Content+Technology ANZ June 2017

PP: 255003/06831

VOLUME 14 ISSUE 3 JUNE 2017

MEDIA + PRODUCTION + MANAGEMENT + DELIVERY

www.content-technology.com

MEDIA REFORM in the Digital Age

PLUS

*Steve Windon *ACS Awards *360 Degrees VR

NETWORK. AUDIO. VIDEO. CONTROL.

Welcome to Broadcast 3.0 See PAT Team at SMPTE 17 in Hall 3, F14 PAT AUS P: 02 9476 1272 E: sales@proaudiotv.com.au PAT NZ P: +64 0800 002 417 E: sales@proaudiotv.co.nz

ISSN 1448-9554

VOLUME 14 ISSUE 3 JUNE 2017

Government and Media Industry line up for reform, page 12.

REGULARS 02 EDITOR’S WELCOME

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

04 NEWS Fox Sports’ and IP-based Production,

64 CLASSIFIEDS

Vale Keith Andrews, New Magna CEO, Foxtel Doubles NBN Footprint, Vimond Opens Down Under, Netflix Oz Production, SMPTE17, People Moves.

18 FEATURES 12 STANDARDS Unifying MPEG-DASH and HTTP Live Streaming, IEEE Announces VR and AR Standards.

18 ACQUISITION Steve Windon and the ACS

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National Awards, Earle Dresner ACS Chooses ARRI ALEXA Mini, New Canon 4K Camera with Cinema RAW Light, ARRI Matte Boxes, Venture Films Chooses Sony 4K Recorders.

24 SPORTSCASTING Vimond and Fox Sports Deliver AFL Streaming, OSB Picks EVS Replay for Rugby, Racing NSW Goes Wireless with Quinto, Commonwealth Games 2018 – Gold Coast Diaries, 360° Virtual Reality for HK Rugby Sevens, Nine League Coverage Activates AR, 3D and GPS.

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD SGL Buys Masstech, DAM/MAM – In-House vs Managed Service, Managing Media at NAB.

47 AUDIO Korean UHD Launch Puts MPEG-H on Sound Footing, Audio on the Floor at NAB.

51 RADIO Radio NZ Gets Prime Ministerial Across Platforms, RadioApp Now on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Australia Expands Digital Radio, Community Radio Funds Increase, Push for FM-Enabled Smartphones.

55 CONTENT DELIVERY iflix Goes Over-theTop in Asia, UHD and IP, ATEME Ties Up with Amber Technology.

32 NEWS OPERATIONS The Weather Company – a Different Type of Cloud, News Ops updates from NAB2017.

37 POST-PRODUCTION Black is Back –

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CONTENT+TECHNOLOGY: ISSN 1448-9554 PP:255003/06831 Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd (ABN 34 095 653 277) PO Box 259, Darlinghurst, NSW 1300 Australia www.broadcastpapers.com PUBLISHER: Phil Sandberg Tel +61 (0)2 4368 4569 Mob +61 (0)414 671 811 papers@broadcastpapers.com

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No material may be reproduced in part or whole in any manner without prior consent of the Publisher and/or copyright holder.

DISCLAIMER: Broadcastpapers Pty Ltd accepts no responsibility for omissions or mistakes made within, claims made or information provided by advertisers.

EDITOR’S WELCOME

Long Live the Reformation!

By Phil Sandberg

AUSTRALIAN MEDIA COMPANIES HAVE BEEN staring into the headlights of change for a long time now. The rise of non-traditional, Internet-based players has been challenged by some and, shortsightedly, applauded by others.

Also under the microscope of reform at the moment is the industry regulator itself with the final report of the Department of Communications and the Arts’ review of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Government’s response published recently.

Foxtel, Stan, the ABC and Freeview, to name a few, have innovated and met the challenges head-on, adapting to the new landscape. Others have been less successful.

The Review stated that urgent reform is needed to ensure the ACMA can respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities presented by future communications environments.

Where they have been hindered, however, is the legislative framework governing the way they structure and operate their businesses. This, as our story on page 12 shows, is about to change.

The reforms included: • clarifying the remit of the regulator to set the boundaries of its regulatory responsibility and oversight. This would include oversight of four broad layers including: an Applications/Content Layer (TV services, and voice and video calls); a Devices Layer (televisions, radios, mobile phones and tablets); a Transport Layer (Networking and routing protocols, technical standards, etc.); and an Infrastructure Layer (including the passive infrastructure and electromagnetic mediums that support the transmission of raw bit streams over a physical medium).

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These changes will also result in greater alignment with arrangements for and processes of other domestic regulators, such as the ACCC, while also reflecting best practice examples from international regulators.

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The ACMA will shortly review the report and develop a program to implement its recommendations.

(Big thanks to Fintan McKiernan, CEO of Ideal Systems Singapore, for the Trump-inspired headwear)

• new governance arrangements involving a “commission” model of full-time, specialist members supported by associate members and sub-boards

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“The Review gives a strong positive endorsement of the ACMA’s performance, confirming a continuing need for a communications regulator with the capacity and powers to manage change over the next 10 years,” said acting ACMA Chairman, Richard Bean.

Let’s hope all these reforms result in a more even playing field for all Australian viewers and listeners.

• clearer formal advice from the Government to the ACMA on its expectations, within the boundaries of its statutory independence, and reporting by the ACMA on its delivery against these

It is easy for Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, et al, to import in-house content or relay big U.S. sports, but will their programming contribute to local jobs?

Despite the hype, there are limits to their ability to scale.

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Whatever your view of their reach or influence, it is important that local media companies be given the freedom to compete more effectively with overseas-based rivals, rivals who contribute little if nothing to local production, live coverage of national news and events, infrastructure or taxation revenues.

• a number of changes to the functions of the regulator, including Classification, Content Regulation, Online Safety, Technical and Network Regulation, Ownership and Control, Spectrum Planning and Allocation, National Interest and Consumer Protection 22:00

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There are those in the Senate, and elsewhere, who will object to changes in media ownership laws, but their vision of a near-monopoly voice holding sway over public opinion is as outdated as the expectation that viewers can fit all appointment television into increasingly busy lifestyles.

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The Federal Government’s proposed media reforms will lift many of the financial and regulatory burdens under which our media sector currently operates. It will also encourage more local content production, including that of non-mainstream sport. This is a good thing.

• embedding in its establishing legislation a series of regulator principles to guide performance.

Thanks for reading Phil Sandberg – Editor/Publisher papers@broadcastpapers.com +61(0)414671811

2017 C+T DEADLINES

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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com

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NEWS + PEOPLE

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NEWS + PEOPLE For the latest news visit www.content-technology.com

NEP Australia Taps Lawo, Arista for New IP-based Production Hubs NEP AUSTRALIA (NEP), Australia’s leading provider of outsourced broadcast production solutions, has entered into an agreement with Lawo, the manufacturer of IP-based audio and video routing, processing and control systems, in which Lawo, together with local partner Professional Audio and Television (PAT), will be a key technology partner in NEP’s new IP-enabled production ‘Hubs’ in Sydney and Melbourne.

NEP’s Hubs enable multiple concurrent outside broadcasts (OBs) and will be the world’s largest networked broadcast centers. Based on an internet protocol (IP) core, the Hubs allow for remote, distributed production – meaning cameras and microphones will be located at the venue, with the majority of the production team based at the Hubs. Designed for large multicamera sports broadcasts, they will accommodate Australia’s most-followed football codes – Rugby League (NRL) and Australian Rules (AFL) – as well as A-League football (soccer) and other popular sports from 29 venues across the country.

An extensive rollout of Lawo’s new V_matrix platform will see all-IP routing, processing and multi-viewer functionality based around the software-defined virtual modules of the V_matrix ecosystem. In addition, Lawo’s Virtual Studio Manager (VSM) and ‘The WALL’ multi-viewer control will provide over-arching orchestration and control as well as a common user interface for all operators.

Along with the new software-defined V_matrix platform, NEP has also committed to the new mc296 audio console for six control rooms and four mc256 audio consoles for the new IP–based outside broadcast trucks.

The NEP-Lawo deal also encompasses audio and IP processing equipment for four new outside broadcast (OB) trucks and the upgrade of seven trucks in NEP’s existing OB fleet.

NEP Australia’s Director of Technology, Marc Segar, said, “We were looking for a flexible and virtualised environment based on IP that would be agile enough for all our sporting codes, scalable for any size project, and integrate well with audio and communications – arguably the most complicated part of what we are trying to achieve. We found that Lawo’s vision was best aligned with ours and with the V_matrix software-defined platform and its Virtual Module-based functionality we are able to meet any size production with the flexibility to change easily between different project requirements.

“The deep integration with VSM means we can use the networked capabilities,

increased flexibility and higher performance of the Lawo video and audio product lines and also seamlessly integrate with other manufacturers. Another major plus is Lawo’s systems share the common control panels and interfaces that our operators are used to, so it’s no different for staff delivering the events.”

NEP Australia has also entered into an agreement with Arista Networks, a leader in datacenter cloud networking, via Professional Audio and Television (PAT), to provide core network infrastructure to NEP’s new production Hubs.

Arista will supply its Arista 7500R series spine with 7050QX for the Hubs’ core IP switching fabric. Arista R series will provide the IP fabric for four new ‘intelligent’ OB trucks and also add a network layer to NEP’s existing HD SDI baseband trucks.

NEP Australia’s Director of Technology, Marc Segar, said, “NEP decided on Arista Networks for their combination of class-leading technology and amazing support through the design process from the local team in Sydney. We are building one of the world’s most comprehensive multi-site broadcast centers and Arista offer the right network tools.”

NEP’s Sydney and Melbourne production Hubs are under construction and will be operational for the start of the AFL and NRL seasons in March 2018.

Visit www.nepinc.com/welcome/nep_australia www.proaudiotv.com.au and www.lawo.com

Fox Sports Chooses Telstra as Network Partner TELSTRA HAS ANNOUNCED it has been selected by Fox Sports to be its network partner of choice, using Telstra’s Distributed Production Network (DPN) to enhance Fox Sports’ outside broadcasting model.

of uncompressed linear contribution video at the lowest possible latency will be traversing our network from sporting venues up to 3500 kilometres away from the Remote Production Hubs.

DPN is an IP network, which has been custom built for the media industry.

DPN enables professional media customers to produce live broadcasts at a distance from the actual event by sending multiple raw camera feeds, audio and equipment control signals over the network back to centralised production hubs.

“Telstra’s DPN will play a pivotal role in satisfying audience demand for live, high quality, content-rich sporting coverage and we look forward to strengthening our longstanding partnership with Fox Sports to deliver the next evolution of live sport broadcasting.”

The long-term deal will see Telstra’s countrywide DPN connect 29 sporting stadiums across regional and metro Australia to new remote production hubs located in Sydney and Melbourne.

NEWS + PEOPLE

Head of Telstra Broadcast Services Trevor Boal said the DPN would be fully operational ahead of the 2018 NRL and AFL seasons and would support more than 520 live tier one sporting events each year.

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“Telstra’s DPN is designed to help our broadcast customers meet the rapidly growing demand for live content by offering access to our high capacity, low latency, multi-tenant network of scale,” Mr Boal said.

“The deployment of a remote production model in Australia requires a world-class countrywide network to overcome the unique challenges of Australia’s vast and expansive geography. In a world first, multiple channels

Fox Sports Director of Operations and Digital, Les Wigan, said, “Fox Sports, in partnership with Telstra and NEP Australia, is proud to be leading the way for the outside broadcast production model of the future. These new hubs will allow us to cover multiple sports from a centralised, revolutionary facility that will deliver the highest quality broadcast to sports fans around the country.”

This deal builds upon Telstra’s reputation for delivering innovative technology solutions to enhance the way audiences engage with sport, with Telstra’s Globecam technology integrated in Fox Sports’ broadcasts.

Telstra’s DPN has standard capacity of 100Gbps into each venue nationally, which is achieved through diverse network paths. Telstra’s multitenant DPN is bookable using the ScheduALL Connector Cloud (API).

Visit www.telstra.com.au

The new Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro is the world’s first digital film camera with the features and controls of a high performance broadcast camera!

The new URSA Mini Pro is a true digital film camera with a 4.6K image sensor, 15 stops of dynamic range and a wide color gamut that delivers amazingly rich skin tones, natural color response and incredible detail. You also get built in ND filters, dual C-Fast and SD card recorders, an interchangeable lens mount and more! URSA Mini Pro works in both film and video modes, so it’s perfect for digital film or broadcast use all while delivering better image quality!

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You get both dual C-Fast 2.0 and dual SD/UHS-II SD card recorders so you can choose the media that works best for you. C-Fast cards are ideal for full resolution RAW recording, while common, inexpensive SD cards are perfect for ProRes or RAW HD. With non-stop recording, when one card is full recording automatically continues onto the next!

Powerful Features and Controls Like the world’s best broadcast cameras, URSA Mini Pro features tactile control buttons, switches, knobs and dials on the side of the camera, giving you direct access to important settings. They’re laid out logically, making them easy to remember so you can change settings without having to look at the buttons or take the camera off of your shoulder! Plus, every control is redundant!

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With URSA Mini Pro, you get a single camera that works with virtually all professional lenses! You can work with high quality EF photographic lenses, large PL cinema lenses, and even B4 HD broadcast lenses, all with the same camera! URSA Mini Pro comes with an EF mount and you can purchase optional PL and B4 lens mounts separately.

Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro $9,295 Includes DaVinci Resolve 12 Studio for editing and color correction.

Viewfi nder, lens and accessories shown, can be purchased separately.

NEWS + PEOPLE Matthew Clemesha Appointed Group CEO of Magna Systems AFTER 22 YEARS with the company, where he first joined as warehouse storeman,Matthew Clemesha has been appointed Magna Systems and Engineering Group CEO. The move also sees Robert Clemesha move from being the group’s Executive Chairman to a non-executive director.

Matthew Clemesha’s appointment is a classic case of working your way to the top, as he moved from storeman to warehouse manager, purchasing and logistics manager, then responsible for the company’s accounts, and then on to Chief Operating Officer before becoming group CEO. Clemesha said, “It’s a great honour for me to head up a company like Magna Systems and Engineering. After 22 years I can honestly say I’ve seen every aspect of the business and have a very clear idea of where the company is headed.

We are expanding and growing in all of our traditional broadcast and telecoms areas. It’s a very exciting time to be at the helm, and I’m very optimistic for a long and healthy future for Magna Systems and Engineering.”

For Robert Clemesha this year marks his 45th year with Magna Systems and Engineering, the company he joined in 1972 when Magna was the leader in sound dubbing equipment in the developing Australian film industry before becoming Managing Director in 1982.

[L-R] Matthew and Robert Clemesha.

Robert Clemesha said, “Having been part of the television industry going from black and white to colour, analogue to digital, and SD to HD, I’ve seen my fair share of change. With that in mind I know when the time is right to move and let others drive forward.”

Visit www.magnasys.tv

Foxtel Doubles NBN Footprint FOXTEL RECENTLY ANNOUNCEDit has expanded availability of its NBN

"Foxtel Broadband’s arrival in FTTN and FTTB serviceable areas increases our

services for premises in fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) and fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) serviceable areas across Australia. The move follows Foxtel’s recent arrival on the NBN for fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) areas.

reach to more Australians than before. Foxtel’s NBN offering, combined with our

Foxtel says Australia’s hunger for broadband data usage is being driven by widespread video streaming, a growing number of connected devices and more data-demanding applications.

premium movies, TV and sport bundles provides an unrivalled experience featuring the ultimate combination of world-class programming and high performance internet.”

Foxtel says its ADSL broadband bundles are ‘NBN ready’. Current and new

Mark Buckman, Foxtel’s Managing Director, Customer and Retail, said, “The way

customers on Foxtel ADSL broadband plans will be able to switch their service

people interact online and watch streamed entertainment is changing rapidly.

Fast and reliable broadband is an essential ingredient for Australian homes.

to the NBN network without needing to recontract.

Visit www.foxtel.com.au

Welcome to Broadcast

NEWS + PEOPLE

LAWO mc2 96

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See PAT at SMPTE 2017 Professional Audio & Television Pty Ltd

Hall 3

AUSTRALIA www.proaudiotv.com.au P: 02 9476 1272 E: sales@proaudiotv.com.au

Stand F14

NEW ZEALAND www.proaudiotv.co.nz P: +64 0800 002 417 E: sales@proaudiotv.co.nz

Vale Keith Andrews Keith passed away suddenly early Saturday April 22nd from a heart attack while at home in Australia for the Easter holidays. He had been part of the NEP family for seven years – joining as CEO of the Australian business and, most recently, was President and Chief Operating Officer of the global NEP Group.

A memorial service for Keith, streamed internationally, was held at NEP Australia’s Eveleigh headquarters in Sydney.

NEP Group CEO Kevin Rabbitt paid tribute to Keith, saying, “Keith was one of the key architects in building the NEP Worldwide Network. He will be missed by our entire team.

“Beyond being a great leader, Keith was a great person, living his life with passion and a will to win that was infectious. He and I were strong business partners but even stronger friends.

“Like many others, I am better for having known him and will continue to emulate the qualities he lived every day.”

NEP Australia President Soames Treffry added, “Keith was an extraordinary leader and friend. His unwavering positivity, support and belief in the team both drove the business and inspired so many colleagues to grow and excel.

“Keith mentored, advised and cared deeply for us all. His death is as unfathomable as his contribution to us professionally and personally was immense.

“Our hearts and deepest sympathies are with Keith’s wife Frances, his son Edward, his daughter Eloise and son-in-law in this impossibly sad time.”

Fox Sports Australia Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Delany, also paid tribute to Mr Andrews.

NEP, Keith oversaw the outside broadcasting services for Fox Sports’ coverage of AFL and NRL helping us push the boundaries to evolve and improve the level of coverage offered to Australian viewers and subscribers.

“It was this passion which saw him promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of the global NEP Group, based in the US, in 2015.

“As a man, Keith was both a friend professionally and personally to many of our executives, a constant and collaborative supporter and most of all a true gentleman of the industry who will leave a legacy for many years to come."

Keith Andrews forged an extensive international career, primarily in technologyrelated businesses. His various executive roles spanned publicly listed and private sector companies in the US, Australia and Asia. Keith’s expertise as a non-executive director was also highly sought-after: he was an accredited facilitator, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and member of the Queensland University of Technology Business School’s CEO Advisory Board.

“All of us at Fox Sports are deeply saddened by news of Keith’s passing,” Mr Delany said. “Keith has been a true friend of the Fox Sports Australia family for many years. He has been a valuable and constant partner behind the scenes as Fox Sports has evolved to become the leader of Australian sports broadcasting.

Keith was promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of NEP Broadcasting in April of 2015, upon which he relocated to Pittsburgh, PA, from Sydney. Before that he spent five years as Chief Executive Officer of Global Television (now NEP Australia).

“Originally as head of Global Television, which was subsequently acquired by

Visit www.nepinc.com/welcome/nep_australia

NEWS + PEOPLE

NEP AUSTRALIA, the international NEP Group and wider broadcasting industry recently farewelled colleague and friend, Keith Andrews.

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NEWS + PEOPLE Vimond Enhances Asia Pacific Presence VIMOND MEDIA SOLUTIONS has officially announced the opening of its Sydney office, following an expansion of business across the Asia Pacific region.

Already serving a range of regional customers, Vimond is focusing on supporting the growth of its clients and bringing its modular OTT solutions to more APAC content owners, telcos and broadcasters.

Vimond’s momentum in the region has been building as it has provided the Vimond Platform to customers including Fox Sports, Optus, PLDT in the Philippines, and iflix in Malaysia.

“We are excited to deepen our roots in a region where OTT providers are looking for scalable, easy-to-use tools to continue growing. The modularity and multitenancy of our solutions are fundamental to helping companies deliver programs and events throughout this region, and around the world,” said Miguel Silva, CCO Vimond Media Solutions.

“In terms of users and population, the Asia-Pacific market is extremely large, and our clients are addressing and targeting a huge number of OTT consumers.

This gives us the opportunity of developing scalable solutions that are highly personalised both for different customers (iflix, Optus, FOX SPORTS Australia or PLDT) and for their heterogeneous markets,” said Oscar Gutierrez, VP Business Development, Vimond Media Solutions.

With its own origin in broadcasting, Vimond is dedicated to remaining close to customers and believes its Sydney office has already enhanced its cooperation with regional broadcasters and other OTT providers. Situated in the Sydney CBD, within a fifteen-minute walk of the city’s iconic Opera House, the office is now staffed with six full-time employees, with Vimond continuing to hire within Australia.

Visit www.vimond.com

Netflix Announces Tidelands – First Australian Original Series NETFLIX HAS ANNOUNCED its first Australian original series ‘Tidelands’,

“We’re proud these strong Australian storytellers are bringing their vision to

a supernatural crime drama to debut exclusively on Netflix across the globe.

the first Australian Netflix original series,” said Erik Barmack, Vice President of

Production will start in Queensland during 2018.

International Original Series at Netflix. “We can’t wait to bring the mystery of

The drama follows a former criminal as she returns home to the small fishing

Tidelands to our members around the world.”

village of Orphelin Bay. When the body of a local fisherman washes ashore she

“We are excited to be partnering with Netflix on Tidelands – this story is one

must uncover the town’s secrets while investigating its strange inhabitants, a

that has been itching to be told and we are thrilled to be making it on our

group of dangerous half-Sirens – half-humans called ‘Tidelanders’.

home soil in Australia with fantastic creatives and highly skilled crews,” said

The series is produced for Netflix by Brisbane-based Hoodlum Entertainment.

Tracey Robertson, Co-Creator and Co-Executive Producer of the show. “The

Executive Producers, Tracey Robertson, Nathan Mayfield, and Leigh McGrath

primeval landscapes of Queensland are a perfect setting to tell the story of

produced the Australian hit series Secrets and Lies, and its remake for the

betrayal, small town secrets, ancient mythology and, when it comes to family,

U.S. The ten-episode first season will be written by creator Stephen M. Irwin

explore whether blood really is thicker than water.”

(Secrets and Lies). Episodes will run for 50 minutes.

Visit www.netflix.com/au

SMPTE17 Conference: Embracing Connective Media AUSTRALIA’S FORUM FOR the exploration of broadcast, media and

insights into online video consumption and audience measurement.

entertainment technology, SMPTE17, will be held at Sydney’s International

Several case studies will be presented, including delivering drama for extreme

Convention Centre (ICC) at Darling Harbour, and includes three days of technical

screen sizes, new approaches to remote sports production, and utilising IP-based

conference sessions. The programme brings together a range of international

switching to bring a ‘live cinema’ project to life.

and local technology thought-leaders with more than 60 presenters and

Broadcast and IT engineers, solutions architects, specifiers, project managers,

panelists from 13 countries.

technicians, producers, students, trainees, equipment suppliers and

Sessions cover managing effective and efficient implementation of IP and cloud

manufacturers, as well as CTOs and CEOs in related industries – will all find the

technologies, challenges of production, storage and distribution for UHD and

conference to offer thought-provoking and insightful sessions. The conference

HDR content, quality considerations for file-based content, developments in

will balance technical matters with creative, operational and business topics.

compression, vision and sound strategies for virtual/augmented reality, and

Visit www.smpte.org.au

NEWS + PEOPLE

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EDITOR’S WELCOME

EDITOR’S WELCOME

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NEWS + PEOPLE ABC Names Helen Clifton Chief Digital and Information Officer ABC MANAGING DIRECTOR, Michelle Guthrie, has announced the appointment of Helen Clifton to the new role of Chief Digital and Information Officer.

from four broadcast centres around the world.

Helen joins the ABC with a range of skills and experience from a thirty-year media career across the UK, the Middle East and New Zealand. Since 2007 she has played a crucial role at TVNZ as Chief Product and Information Officer where she was responsible for major business transformation and delivering the company’s largest technology projects.

audience and an employee perspective that we found a candidate with the

Beginning her career in the UK, Helen has held many roles in television production and operations management including studio manager at LWT Granada’s London studios and Director of Operations for Aljazeera English Channel in Doha, Qatar, where she led the team that delivered the first HD 24/7 global news channel

ABC Managing Director, Michelle Guthrie said, “It was important from both an unique skills needed for this role. With Helen we have achieved this. We cannot wait for her to join us.”

Ms Clifton said, “The ABC plays a significant role in the lives of Australians. I am excited to be joining and leading a team that will deliver technological change and innovation for the benefit of audiences during a time of transformation in the media industry.”

Visit www.abc.net.au

NZ’s Department of Post Taps Hinsen for Head of Operations AFTER LEAVING WELLINGTON’S Park Road Post for New York City six years ago, Katie Hinsen is back in New Zealand and ready to bring a fresh set of eyes to Auckland’s screen production industry.

3D, RED, HFR, HDR, 4K+ and DCP. She is considered a world expert in technologies,

Katie Hinsen comes from a technical and operations background, with credits on over 80 major productions. Over a 20-year career she has worked as an engineer, editor, VFX artist, Stereoscopic 3D artist, colourist and finishing artist – on commercials, documentaries, television, music videos, short and feature films, at such facilities as Park Road Post Production, Goldcrest, and Light Iron, a Panavision company.

speaking at industry conferences.

Throughout her career Hinsen has been involved in both production and R&D of new digital acquisition and distribution formats, including Stereoscopic/Autostereoscopic

Hinsen.

such as High Dynamic Range and High Resolution 4K-8K workflows, and is celebrated as a thought leader in the post production industry, writing, advising, and “I was looking for a company that had the forward-thinking agility to be able to grow in a rapidly-changing industry. New Zealand punches above its weight in talent and innovation, and now is the time to expand our wider post production ecosystem,” said Visit www.departmentofpost.com

Brief Moves MICHAEL DAY has started a new position as Senior Product Specialist – Media, at Telstra. He was previously Regional Sales Manager – Strategic Accounts, APAC,

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ANDREW HOGG has started a new position as Manager of Media Operations at Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Australia. He was previously General Manager, MediaCloud Australia at Deluxe Entertainment Services Group.

STANLEY MARSHALL JONES has started a new position as Senior Nuke Compositor at Cumulus VFX. He was previously Nuke Compositor at Cinesite.

GLENN CODDINGTON ACS has started a new position as Helicopter Pilot/Base Manager at AusJet Aviation Group. He was previously Casual Pilot – Bell 206 at Phillip Island Helicopters.

OPEN RATE BY DEVICE PETE FULLERTON has started a new position as Senior Account Manager,

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CONTACT / Adam Buick / adam@broadcastpapers.com or phone / +61(0)413 007 144

Media Sydney at Macquarie Media Limited. He was previously Chief Engineer Nova 969 and Vega 95.3 at DMG Radio.

Techtel’s Prompter Service Garners Gong from CueScript PROMPTER MANUFACTURER CUESCRIPT used this year's NAB show to prresent APAC distributor Techtel with an Award for Outstanding Sales and Support in 2016.

Pictured [L-R] Charlotte Latham, CueScript Manager of Sales & Operations, CueScript Director Brian Larter, Techtel GM, Mal Chandler, Techtel Director of Projects, Matt Feeney, and Techtel Head of Marketing & Online Sales, Jenna Clark.

Freeview FV Takes Top Honour at Connie Awards

Freeview FV was awarded the top honour by the international awards that recognise innovation and the emerging best practice from across all sectors of the media landscape around the world.

“These awards are a true honour, particularly given the incredible depth and range of other award entries in the Connies. To be acknowledged at this level on the international stage is once again great testament to successful collaboration,” said Freeview CEO, Elizabeth Ross.

“The vision, design and user experience were developed through great teamwork which brought together the best and brightest digital experts from within our broadcasters and our Freeview staff,” said Ross.

Earlier in the week, Freeview FV was also announced as a finalist for the AIMIA’s 23rd annual AMY Awards in the entertainment and media smart phone or tablet application category and just last month Freeview won the Gold Stevie for innovation in the entertainment apps category at the international Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Launched in November 2016, Freeview FV is available on iOS and Android mobile and tablets. Freeview FV delivers live streaming of 20 free-to-air TV channels and the catch-up content from all broadcasters with just one click.

Available channels include: ABC, SBS, Seven, Channel 9, TEN, ONE, Eleven ABC2/ ABC KIDS, ABC ME, ABC News 24, SBS VICELAND, Food Network, NITV, 7TWO, 7Mate, 7Flix, Racing.com, 9Gem, 9Go! and 9Life. More live channels will be added as they become available.

Visit www.freeview.com.au

MOBILE

NEWS + PEOPLE

FREEVIEW’S WORLD-FIRST Freeview FV mobile app has won the International Grand Prix Award and Best TV/Video Service Update or Launch Award at the Connie Awards, announced recently in London. Freeview was the only Australian company to win an award.

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NEWS + PEOPLE

Australian Media CEOs gathered in Canberra to support reform.

Media Reform Package to Reflect the Digital Landscape FOR OVER TWO DECADES NOW, digital disruption has been picking its way through numerous industry verticals, introducing new players and forcing old ones to adapt or die. It has happened with the recording industry, transport industry and financial services, to name a few.

And, while they have faced an acceleration in the effects of digital disruption, old-school broadcasters have enjoyed a buffer against these winds of change in the form of Internet and mobile bandwidth limitations. That buffer is gone, yet Australian media companies have been forced to operate within a legislative framework drafted for the beginning of pay-TV (Foxtel was founded in October 1995).

With industry consent, and some inevitable wrangling in the Senate, that is about to change. The Australian Federal Government has announced what it says is a comprehensive package of reforms that will improve the sustainability of Australia’s free-to-air broadcasting sector, support the creation of high quality Australian content and modernise broadcasting and content regulation.

The measures include: • Abolishing broadcasting licence fees and datacasting charges.

• Applying a fee for the spectrum that broadcasters use at a level more reflective of the current media landscape.

• Further restrictions on gambling advertising in live sporting events across all platforms.

• Amending the anti-siphoning scheme and list.

• Repealing the two out of three and 75% audience reach media ownership rules.

• A broad ranging and comprehensive review of Australian and children’s content.

• Funding to support the broadcasting of women’s and niche sports According to Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield, “The package provides significant ongoing financial relief, acknowledging that Australia’s broadcasters are facing an increasingly competitive commercial environment, with intense competition for audiences and advertising revenue from other media companies, including global online and on-demand operators.”

The package will abolish free-to-air broadcasting annual licence fees currently estimated to raise around AUD$130 million on television and radio to improve the ability of broadcasters to operate on a level playing field with other platforms. Licence fees, which are revenue based, were introduced when broadcasters could generate significant profits due to their exclusive access to mass audiences. In today’s media environment, licence fees are a relic of a bygone age of regulation.

Under the reforms, broadcasters will pay new annual spectrum fees estimated to raise around $40 million, a level that is more reflective of the current media landscape. The financial relief provided by the package gives commercial broadcasters the flexibility to grow and adapt in the changing media landscape, invest in their businesses and in Australian content, and better compete with online providers.

The package also includes a “community dividend” in the form of further restrictions on gambling advertising during live sports programs. The Government will work with industry to introduce new restrictions on gambling advertisements during live sports broadcasts shown on commercial television, commercial radio, subscription television, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and online platforms. The new restriction will ban gambling advertisements from five minutes before the commencement of play until five minutes after the conclusion of play or 8:30pm, whichever comes sooner.

This will provide a clear and practical zone for families and children to watch live sports. Existing exemptions for advertising that covers the racing industry and lotteries will remain.

The reform package will also amend Australia’s antisiphoning regime to reduce the size of the list and update other parts of the scheme, whilst ensuring that iconic sporting events of national significance are retained.

The Government will provide funding of $30 million over four years to subscription television to maintain and increase coverage of women’s sports, niche sports and high participation sports that are less sustainable to broadcast. Increased coverage of these sports will assist them to build their profile, boost participation and improve sponsorship opportunities.

The Minister also announced that the Department of Communications and the Arts, Screen Australia and the ACMA will undertake a review of Australian and children’s screen content. The review will identify sustainable

policies to ensure the ongoing availability of Australian and children’s content to domestic and international audiences, regardless of platform.

“The reforms are vital to the long-term viability of the sector, which provides access to high quality Australian content that contributes to, and reflects, Australian cultural life,” added the Minister.

In an unprecedented and united show of support, Wednesday May 31st saw chief executives from Australia’s major commercial and subscription TV, newspaper and radio companies converge on Canberra to demonstrate support for the Federal Government’s broadcast and media reform package.

The group sought to send a strong message to Parliament that urgent changes are required to modernise Australia’s outdated media laws.

In a joint statement, the group said, “Change is crucial to bring media regulation into the digital age and preserve the future viability of the sector, which supports more than 30,000 jobs. Australian media operators must be allowed to compete more effectively against multinational internet giants that are taking hundreds of millions of advertising dollars out of Australia.

“All Australians benefit from having a competitive and independent media sector that is able to deliver checks and balances in a healthy democracy. Australian media needs to be empowered to continue to reflect Australian values and tell Australian stories.

“This package is key to the entire industry’s ability to keep creating great content that is read, watched and listened to by millions of Australians every day. Media CEOs call on Parliament to preserve Australian content, voices and jobs by supporting the passage of the broadcast and media reform package in its entirety.”

The statement was endorsed by: • Hugh Marks, CEO, Nine Entertainment • Tim Worner, CEO, Seven West Media • Paul Anderson, CEO, Ten Network • Ian Audsley, CEO, Prime Media Group • Andrew Lancaster, CEO, WIN Corporation • Harold Mitchell, Chair, FreeTV Australia • Pam Longstaff,Acting CEO, FreeTV Australia Continues on page 14

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Talkback + AoIP + 4-Wire + LAN + Fibre = Ultra-Flexible Comms

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Australian Minister for Communications, Senator Mitch Fifield.

continued from page 12

influence is growing rapidly in Australia.

• Peter Tonagh, CEO, Foxtel

“This package is not just about Ten or free-to-air television. It is about ensuring that there is a future for Australian media companies – for local journalism, for Australian stories on screen and for a local production sector that provides jobs and training for thousands of Australians, many of whom go on to success on the global stage,” he said.

• Tony Shepherd, AO, Chair, ASTRA • Andrew Maiden, CEO, ASTRA • Greg Hywood, CEO, Fairfax Media • Michael Miller, Executive Chair, News Corp Australasia • Grant Blackley, CEO, Southern Cross Austereo • Cathy O’Connor, CEO, NOVA Entertainment • Rob Atkinson, CEO, ARN • Russell Tate, Executive Chair, Macquarie Media • Adam Lang, COO Macquarie Media & CRA Chairman • Rowley Patterson, Chair, ACE Broadcasters • Grant Cameron, CEO, Grant Broadcasters • Bill Caralis, Owner, 2SM Supernetwork Radio • Ron Camplin, Owner, Bathurst Broadcasters • Hans Torv, Chair, Hot Tomato • Stephen Sweeney, CEO, SEN • Ian Kennedy, CEO, Redwave • Les Hawton, Chair, West Coast Broadcasters • Glenn Wheatley, CEO, EON Broadcasters • Rex Morris, CEO, Resonate Broadcasters • Joan Warner, CEO, Commercial Radio Australia Ten Network Holdings Chief Executive Officer, Paul Anderson, welcomed the Government’s announcement.

Mr Anderson said, “The Government’s package provides very welcome, immediate financial relief for all commercial free-to-air television broadcasters.

It provides a boost for local content and the local production sector.

“Every dollar from today’s changes will be reinvested into our great Australian content and into continuing to enhance our services for viewers across all platforms.

“Recent financial results and announcements from across the Australian media industry clearly demonstrate that this is a sector under extreme competitive pressure from the foreign-owned tech media giants,” he said.

NEWS + PEOPLE

“A critical element of this holistic package is the removal of two of the current cross-media ownership rules: the two out of three rule and the 75 percent reach rule.

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“These cross-media rules arbitrarily prevent Australian television, radio, and newspaper companies from operating across media platforms. They are stifling growth and costing jobs,” Mr Anderson said.

“Now that we have a holistic package, it is time for Parliament to get rid of these pre- internet rules to give Ten and other Australian companies a fair go against the foreign tech media giants whose dominance and

“Anyone who supports a future for Australian media companies must support this package and we call on the Parliament to pass these reforms urgently or risk losing local voices altogether.

“We welcome the review of the content rules also announced today. The rules need to be looked at in the context of the changing media landscape,” Mr Anderson said.

His comments were echoed by Hugh Marks, CEO of Nine Entertainment.

“Nine believes this total package tackles the various elements of media reform required for the industry to compete with global players in a rapidly changing media environment,” said Mr Marks. “We would encourage the parliament to pass all elements in their entirety.

“The move from licence fees to a spectrum use-based fee addresses the onerous and prohibitive charges we have been facing, at a time when our business is competing with global giants who have no such restrictions in our market.

“This decisive package is welcomed by Nine and we thank the Government for the foresight it shows in providing a more level playing field while removing outdated ownership rules to encourage innovation and investment in local content by us.”

Mr Marks said Nine recognises the need for an overall reform to benefit all players in the market, and as such accepts the need for changes to the anti-siphoning list as part of the broader process, but welcomes the guarantees that Australians will continue to get their favourite sports including NRL, AFL and cricket live and free.

“Community calls for reform to gambling advertising is something we are very aware of and while it will cause our business a loss of revenue we will work with our partners to ensure compliance.

“Nine has always maintained that licence fees are the most important reform for our industry. Now that this is being addressed it is sensible to also address the outdated media ownership rules. The two-out-of-three ownership rule and 75 percent reach rule are redundant and have been superseded by agreements such as Nine delivering regional news through our partner Southern Cross Austereo, and technology advances including streaming services such as 9Now.” Seven West Media Chairman, Kerry Stokes AC said, “I endorse the complete legislation package proposed by

the Government, including licence fee reductions, media ownership changes, gambling advertising restrictions, anti- siphoning and the spectrum charge. It will give us a real opportunity to compete in the new media environment.

“I am pleased that the Turnbull Government is backing the Australian media industry through these reforms.”

Seven West Media CEO, Tim Worner said, “Seven has maintained a consistent position since 2013 on the issue of media ownership changes. We have called for a broad reform package that will truly empower free-to-air broadcasters to meet the increasing pace of change that we are facing. We believe that the package announced by the Government today will go a long way to achieving that objective.

“In particular, we welcome the Government’s move to reduce television licence fees, which have been the single biggest regulatory impediment facing this industry for some time. Removing these outdated fees will allow us to invest in more and better local content and to transform our businesses for the future and we thank the Turnbull Government for taking this initiative.

“We support the proposed changes to the media ownership rules as part of the Government’s comprehensive package. We recognise that the changes we are witnessing in media consumption and delivery are challenging the traditional sector-based regulations that are currently in place and we call on the Senate to pass the bills currently before the Parliament,” Mr Worner added.

Seven also indicated its commitment to implement the package of gambling advertising restrictions announced by the Government, which will see gambling ads prohibited in live sport shown before 8.30pm including a five-minute buffer before and after the event.

“The anti-siphoning list is still the best way to ensure that Australia’s iconic sporting events remain available live and free to all Australians. I am very pleased that significant events such as the AFL, Australian Open Tennis, Olympics and Commonwealth Games will remain on the list,” said Mr Worner.

“We look forward to working with the Government to deliver all the elements of the package announced.”

More detail about the Broadcast and Content Reform Package are available at: www.communications.gov.au/bcrp

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NEWS + PEOPLE

TECHNICAL STANDARDS

Charlie Vogt, CEO, Imagine Communications.

www.content-technology.com/standards

Unifying MPEG-DASH and HTTP Live Streaming IRT, THE RESEARCH and competence centre for audio-visual technologies of the public broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, in close cooperation with the IPTV and OTT solutions provider, Keepixo, and the German public broadcaster, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) have provided sample live internet streams demonstrating the potential benefit of the emerging Common Media Application Format (CMAF).

CMAF aims at unifying the two leading adaptive streaming standards which are MPEG-DASH and Apple’s HLS (HTTP Live Streaming). Technically, with CMAF, both

the potential of CMAF to service providers and to the industry.

CMAF also facilitates a better deployment of accessibility services. The sample streams contain deaf and hard of hearing subtitles in the IMSC1 format and can be extended by the alternative web caption format WebVTT. This flexibility results in a better cross-platform support on mobile devices and Smart TVs. IRT supports this market harmonisation through a long-term dedication to subtitle format standardisation.

HLS playlists and DASH manifests are allowed to reference the same fragmented

Audio Description, an accessibility service for the blind and visually impaired, is also

MP4 (fMP4) chunks, whereas currently these chunks must be duplicated for

contained in the sample streams. CMAF supports multiple audio tracks for video

each streaming mechanism. This allows any DASH player on Windows or Android

assets, without the need of duplication or repackaging the video.

to playback the exact same media segments as recent Apple devices (iOS10, tvOS, MacOS). Smart TVs based on HbbTV 1.5 and onwards support DASHbased streaming, therefore, CMAF also provides an important step towards the harmonisation of HbbTV and HLS platforms.

For broadcasters, the benefit of using CMAF for future OTT IP services lies in its efficiency – only one packaging system is required and only one set of media chunks needs to be built. Consequently, less storage space is needed for non-linear

IRT cooperates with terminal and encoder manufacturers, as well as CDN- and cloud-providers, and offers end-to-end tests that are publicly available. To support interoperability between a maximum range of devices, IRT maintains an extensive repository of differently encoded audio and video streams for PC, smartphones, tablets and HbbTV-devices on a test portal, to which CMAF test streams also have been added.

services such as catch-up TV, leading to lower storage costs. The viewer benefits

The showcase with the sample stream can be viewed on via a demo website at

as well, because HTTP caches in the delivery network become much more efficient,

http://subtitling.irt.de/cmaf

thus decreasing the risk of network congestion.

IRT’s AV Streaming test portal can be accessed via http://avtest.irt.de

Keepixo’s packager, used in the trial, is a flexible, feature-rich live OTT packager, which can be provided as a stand-alone solution or integrated within Keepixo’s live multirate OTT transcoder.

The implementation showed how future multiplatform access to adaptive streams can be realised. For the showcased streams prepared and live broadcast content has been encoded and packaged conform the CMAF specification. The demo streams are publicly available for anyone interested, specifically to demonstrate

“IRT is investigating alternative streaming methods to HLS-delivery or MPEGDASH-delivery to find more efficient, and thus less expensive, workflows for IPbased distribution,” says Dr. Klaus Illgner-Fehns, CEO of IRT. “Besides mechanisms for adaptive media transport, also the joined carriage of program-associated data like subtitles is evaluated. In this context CMAF provides promising options.”

Visit www.irt.de

IEEE Announces Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) Standards IEEE AND THE IEEE STANDARDS ASSOCIATION (IEEE-SA), recently announced eight IEEE standards projects in a new P2048TM standards family for virtual reality and augmented reality. Undertaken by the IEEE Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Working Group (VRAR), participants working on the new standards projects include device manufacturers, content providers, service

• IEEE P2048.4TM – Person Identity.

• IEEE P2048.5TM – Environment Safety.

relevant to VR/AR technology advancement. With participants from more than

• IEEE P2048.6TM – Immersive User Interface.

dedicated to building consensus on VR/AR standardisation.

• IEEE P2048.7TM – Map for Virtual Objects in the Real World.

The initial eight IEEE P2048 standards projects for virtual reality and

• IEEE P2048.8TM – Interoperability Between Virtual Objects

augmented reality in development focus on different areas of critical work, and include:

TECHNICAL STANDARDS

• IEEE P2048.3TM – Immersive Video File and Stream Formats.

providers, technology developers, government agencies and other parties 200 companies and institutions worldwide, the IEEE VRAR Working Group is

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• IEEE P2048.2TM – Immersive Video Taxonomy and Quality Metrics.

• IEEE P2048.1TM – Device Taxonomy and Definitions.

and the Real World.

Visit https://standards.ieee.org/develop/wg/VRAR.html

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ACQUISITION ACQUISITION www.content-technology.com/acquisition

Earle Dresner ACS Chooses ARRI ALEXA Mini HAVING RECEIVED HIS ACS ACCREDITATION last year, hard-working DP, Earle Dresner ACS, also felt the need to upgrade his camera of choice. The camera he decided on was a new ALEXA Mini.

Dresner explained, “I owned an ALEXA Classic and really loved it, but I felt it had done its time, and I was starting to shoot a lot more productions requesting ARRIRAW or 4K, and also a lot of anamorphic, so I decided to upgrade. The ALEXA Mini ticked all the boxes for resolution, size, weight and high speed, so I knew it would be a great camera in most situations.”

As a cinematographer who shoots a lot of television commercials, Dresner has a look he’s known for, a look the ALEXA Mini could help him achieve and maintain.

Earle continued, “I love choosing the right style for each job whether it be anamorphic or spherical, handheld, tracking, or shooting from a drone. I wanted a camera that would excel with all of those, and 200fps covers most high-speed requirements.

“I like to own my own camera so it’s always there regardless of budget. The Mini produces the same beautiful images I got with the ALEXA with the added bonus of ARRIRAW, 4K, 4:3, 200fps and a small, light body for hand held, drones and rigs.

When a producer or director calls about a job, I can be 90% sure I’ve got the best camera for it. I also bought the WCU-4 which plugs directly into the Mini and can be used to control camera settings – very useful when the camera is in a splash box at the beach. Another great advantage is the built in electronic NDs. I can avoid any chance of ghosting or double reflections by only having to use one filter in front of the lens. When the light’s fading and you’re trying to get that last set-up, flicking a switch saves a lot of time.”

Dresner has used his ALEXA Mini in almost every shooting environment you can

think of: on a drone over water, rigged to the bonnet of a car or squeezed onto the dash, hand held on a Movi stabilised system, or in production mode with a big zoom or a periscope lens. It’s clear he’s pleased with how the camera performs.

He concluded, “The camera has so far performed fantastically in every situation.

And from the moment I ordered the camera the team at ARRI Australia have been great. When you make a large investment on a piece of technology it’s comforting to know there’s support there when you need it. They are friendly, knowledgeable people who are always happy to answer questions or fix something Visit www.arri.com

Miller Goes Off-Road with Gavin Rawlings “The Compass 25 head is in my opinion is the perfect companion for this environment and for my Sony PMWF55,” said Rawlings. “Complementing the Sony F55 with all the various drag settings and counterbalancing options of the Compass 25 head, I’m able to get the smooth and seamless shots I need. The fluid head really helps me with panning shots zoomed right in. I’m able to track the vehicles very smoothly by adjusting the drag speeds in the fluid head.”

Since 2008, Rawlings has exclusively trusted Miller tripods to hold up to the challenges of the extreme ecosystems he encounters. He is especially fond of the Solo legs that support the Compass 25. “I swear by the Solo legs,” said Rawlings.

“A lot of my work takes me through so many different types of terrain: deserts, snow, mountains, tropics, you name it. The fact that I can snap and lock the Solo legs at different types of angles so easily is extremely helpful. It allows me to achieve the shot that I want no matter where I’m positioned.”

ACQUISITION

GAVIN RAWLINGS, Director of Photography and co-owner of Venture Films, uses Miller Camera Support Equipment to produce off-road travel programs, most recently season two of ‘LowRange’, an Australian-based reality program that follows a team of adventurers as they explore the nearly two-and-ahalf-million acres of the Australian outback. In filming his outback adventures, Rawlings relies on the Miller Compass 25 Solo 100 3-Stage Carbon Fibre system to support his Sony PMWF55 CineAlta 4K PMW Series HD Camcorder and a Sony PXWX70 XDCAM XAVC HD422 hand-held camcorder.

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‘LowRange’, which was previously broadcast on Australia’s Seven Network for its first season, is shot in some extreme conditions including rugged mountain ranges, arid deserts and plains, vast gorges, and the little-known tropical and monsoonal climates of the outback Northern Territory. In total, the outback provides an ecologically-rich abundance of environments featuring unique wildlife for each host to explore.

Overall, Rawlings is impressed with the reliability of Miller equipment, which continuously keeps up with him. “I’m pretty tough on my tripods,” confessed Rawlings. “They’re sometimes submerged in water, set up in mud, and blasted with dust and sand, so being able to maintain them in the field is important. For instance, when the Solo legs start getting a bit jammed up from all the mud and dust, I can easily take the legs apart to clean them. This is very helpful for remote area filming.”

The Compass 25 Solo 100 3-Stage Carbon Fibre system features a payload range of 4-14kg and weighs only 6.6kg, allowing for run-and-gun operation under any conditions. It has 5+0 selectable positions of drag, a quick-release 70mm sliding Euro plate, a height range of 383mm-2033mm and spiked rubber feet for stabilisation. The Compass 25 also features four selectable positions of counterbalance, a calliper disc brake system and illuminated bubble level.

Rawlings has worked on similar off-road shows such as ‘The Offroad Adventure Show’, ‘Pat Callinan’s 4×4 Adventures’ and ‘4WD Action’.

Visit www.millertripods.com and www.venturefilms.com.au

ACQUISITION

Cheers to all 2017 ACS National Awards winners and nominees from ARRI Australia, proudly delivered by:

CREATIVITY BEYOND CAMERA STABILIZATION

Come try it yourself at the SMPTE Exhibition, July 18-21, International Convention Centre Sydney.

ARRI Booth E51

Email Sean to book a demo: sdooley@arri.com.au www.arri.com/goto/trinity

ACQUISITION

Now available in Australia & New Zealand

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ACQUISITION

BIG PICTURE Introduces Panasonic AK-HC5000 1080p Flyaway/OB Kit AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND-BASED BIG PICTURE delivers video production and equipment services for the high-pressure demands of concert touring, television, corporate and live events, sports and outside broadcasts. In late 2016, the company chose Panasonic cameras to fit out and upgrade its new 1080p flyaway kits and outside broadcast facilities.

“Although 1080p is currently a small part of our work, we see it as a key growth area. It is starting to become a mandatory requirement for jobs that

Its Panasonic camera suite includes ten AK-HC5000 4X high speed 1080p camera systems, as well as two AJ-PX5000G ENG camera recorders.

The Panasonic kit has been run up on a variety of jobs and environments – including the five-week tour of the theatrical magic show ‘Dynamo: Seeing is Believing’, ‘2CELLOS’ with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra recorded to DVD, the ‘WWE NXT Downunder’ wrestling event for a US subscription channel, Australia Day celebrations, and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Nick Bojdak, Technical Director at Big Picture said,

involve capture for DVD Mastering – and even high end webcasting is now pushing for 1080p over the 720p format.”

The image quality of the cameras impressed during Big Picture’s in-house chroma testing, and the cameras passed their first real-life test with flying colours when all ten AK-HC5000s were used together at the 2CELLOS shoot.

The key challenge of 2CELLOS was the separation between the concert hall and the control room. The lack of control room space near the concert hall and the absence of any SMPTE patch (panels) meant Big Picture had to set their control system up in the video control room, on the other side of the central passage to the concert hall and remote the signals via the inhouse single mode fibre tie-lines.

“We ended up putting all 10 CCUs in a rack in the concert hall with Riedel MicroNs and a TSL Tallyman and remoting the signals back to the control room,” said Bojdak. “It actually worked pretty well as it meant we could run SMPTE fibre to the camera heads within the concert hall rather than using single mode fibre with external power back to the video control room. The setup saved us from having to find 10 channels of active SMPTE to SM fibre adaptors.”

Big Picture is currently working with third parties to establish a 1080p RF system, and plans to have this up and running later in 2017.

Visit www.bigpicture.com and www.panasonic.com/au

Canon Goes Cinema RAW Light with Compact 4K Cinema CANON HAS LAUNCHED THE EOS C200, the latest addition to its Cinema EOS range.

The new 4K compact digital cinema camera is the first Cinema EOS camera to support the new RAW recording format – Cinema RAW Light. The EOS C200 provides the same flexibility in colour grading as Cinema RAW in a smaller file size, enabling filmmakers to record internally to a CFast 2.0TM card.

to SD cards in MP4 format.

Newly developed Canon Dual DIGIC DV6 processors provide the ability to record internally 4K UHD/50P MP4, 4K DCI RAW and continuous 120fps High Frame Rate (HFR) in Full HD without crop. At the same time, advances in Dual Pixel CMOS Auto Focus (AF) technology and a new touch screen LCD monitor provide smooth AF operation and effective tracking.

An ISO range of 100 to 102,400 guarantees excellent performance, even in difficult lighting conditions, such as when quickly switching between locations. The built-in optical ND filters of up to 10 stops provide further flexibility and convenience, allowing filmmakers to shoot in bright light and expand the depth of field control.

EOS C200 key features include: • Internal 4K recording with Cinema RAW Light and MP4 format • Continuous 120fps (maximum) High Frame Rate with no cropping at Full HD • Up to 15-stops dynamic range (Cinema RAW Light) • Professional High Quality image and audio

ACQUISITION

• Dual Pixel CMOS AF with touch control and extensive shooting functions

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The EOS C200 features Canon’s 4K Super 35mm CMOS sensor with an effective pixel count of 8.85MP, along with the newly developed Dual DIGIC DV6 image processors. As a result, it can deliver Cinema RAW Light recording at 4K DCI 50P internally to a CFast 2.0TM card. It can also deliver 4K UHD recording at 150Mbps, and 2K or Full HD at 35Mbps

Supporting up to 15-stops of dynamic range with Cinema RAW Light and up to 13-stops of dynamic range in MP4 (Canon Log / Log 3), the camera is perfect for capturing highlight and shadow details.

The EOS C200 is also capable of delivering both slow and fast motion recording at up to 120fps with no crop in Full HD/MP4, ideal for those wanting creative slow motion capture.

Built for professionals and suitable for single shooters, the EOS C200 features an advanced AF system that provides reliability and accuracy when shooting 4K, as well as a touch screen LCD panel for filmmakers to easily select their subject. For those who need to switch effortlessly between several subjects in a single shot, the Dual Pixel CMOS AF enables smooth AF operation whilst the Manual Focus Assist Function, Face Detection with Face Priority and Face-Only options provide greater creative focus control.

The EOS C200’s lightweight body of just 1.4kg is designed for comfortable hand-held shooting and will benefit those who are filming for long periods.

The compact size also makes the camera suitable for mounting onto a drone or gimbal.

Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity allows for browser remote control and the ability to transfer files via FTP, whilst the camera’s compatibility

options mean new and existing accessories can be used, including Canon’s electronic viewfinder – the EVF-V70.

Editing and grading of the Cinema RAW Light video format will be supported in DaVinci Resolve from Blackmagic Design. Editing will be possible in Media Composer from Avid Technology, using Canon RAW Plugin for Avid Media Access. This format can also be processed using a Canon application, Cinema RAW Development.

Support for Cinema RAW Light is also scheduled for EDIUS Pro, Grass Valley’s editing software during 2017. Additionally, a future version of Final Cut Pro X from Apple Inc. will support Canon’s Cinema RAW Light, using Canon RAW Plugin for Final Cut Pro X. Canon’s XF-AVC video format will be available with a future firmware upgrade. This upgrade is free of charge and is planned to be available from 1H 2018.

The EOS C200 will be available from late July 2017.

Visit www.canon.com.au

ACQUISITION

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ACQUISITION

Time Out from his Furious Schedule ACS Hall of Fame Inductee Steve Windon ACS ASC reflects on a life in film.

“I OFTEN THINK THAT working in Hollywood is a bit more like being in a high school but with lots of playmates. First of all, there's hundreds of people, all with their own agenda. Then you make a game plan. The secret of filmmaking - the game plan. You throw in millions of dollars and then, at the last minute, you throw the plan out the window and you do something completely different.”

That is the considered opinion of Steve Windon ACS ASC who, along with Mandy Walker ACS ASC, was inducted into the Australian Cinematographers Society Hall of Fame at this year’s ACS National Awards.

In recent years, Windon, who was born in 1959 in Sydney, has enjoyed a highoctane ride with The Fast & the Furious franchise. His long body of work also includes Star Trek Beyond (2016), HBO’s The Pacific mini-series, and 1994’s Easter Island epic, Rapa Nui. “I was standing at the top of a Orongo crater on Easter Island during a night shoot,” recalled Windon during his keynote at the ACS Awards, “when unexpectedly a huge storm blew. And, you've got to remember this is a long time before weather apps and smart phones. So, the hundreds of scantily-clad native warriors who were to run over the cliff tops with Tiki torches for my dusk shot, were now sheltered under umbrellas as the storm came in. And, I remember the panic and the producers were anxious to find something we could shoot while we waited for the weather to clear.

Steve Windon ACS ASC parades victim of the Warner Bros. House of Wax fire.

“So, after a lot of head scratching, cut to 250 of some of the finest film

46th National ACS Awards for Cinematography – the Winners CineKids Gold Plaque: Byron D'arcy (QLD) ~ Instinct Student Cinematography Gold Tripod: Ben Cotgrove (QLD) ~ Little Kingdom Experimental & Specialised Gold Tripod: Dave May (NSW) ~ Closed Sydney 'Lockouts Timelapse' Award of Distinction: Piers Mussared (SA) ~ The Unseen House Music Videos Gold Tripod: Jordan Maddocks (NSW) ~ Nervo - People Grinnin Award of Distinction: James L Brown ACS (VIC) ~ Taku - Median Syd Wood ACS Local & National News Gold Tripod: Lennon Cooper (SA) ~ Horse Riding Triathlete Award of Distinction: Stephen Cavenagh ACS (NT) ~ Prison Education

Neil Davis International News Gold Tripod: Joel Lawrence (QLD) ~ Fault Lines Award of Distinction: Cameron Bauer (QLD) ~ Life in Longyearbyen Current Affairs Gold Tripod: Louie Eroglu ACS (NSW) ~ State of Fear Award of Distinction: Aaron Hollett (VIC) ~ Yemen - The War on Children John Bowring ACS TV Station Breaks & Promos Gold Tripod : Drew English (NSW) ~ Holt Award of Distinction: Adam Howden ACS (VIC) ~ Fidget and Foil

Award of Distinction: Germain McMicking (VIC) - Taco Bell - The Routine Republic

Award of Distinction: Sherwin Akbarzadeh (VIC) ~ The Weekly Times

Web Content & New Media Gold Tripod: Emma Paine (NSW) ~ We Will Award of Distinction: Ross Giardina ACS (NSW) ~ BPM - Elegant Hedonism

Advertising - National/ International Gold Tripod: Ross Giardina ACS (NSW) ~ David Jones Award of Distinction: Ross Giardina ACS (NSW) ~ Samsung

Documentaries Gold Tripod: Abraham Joffe (NSW) ~ Tales By Light - Darren Jew: Submerged Award of Distinction: Dan Jackson (VIC) ~ In The Shadow of the Hill

Dramatised Documentaries Award of Distinction: Jason Thomas (WA) ~ Who Flew FIrst

Entertainment & TV Magazine Gold Tripod: Beau Molloy (TAS) On the Road – Ethiopia Award of Distinction: Benjamin Hanson (NSW) - River Cottage Australia S4E1

Ron Taylor AM ACS Wildlife & Nature Gold Tripod: Richard Fitzpatrick ACS (QLD) ~ Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough Award of Distinction: Abraham Joffe (NSW) ~ Tales By Light - Art Wolfe: Wild

Corporate & Educational Gold Tripod: Benjamin Shirley ACS (NSW) ~ 3 Capes

Advertising - Local & Regional Gold Tripod: Matthew Toll (NSW) ~ Outback Tourism

Features ~ Cinema Gold Tripod: Stefan Duscio (VIC) ~ Backtrack Award of Distinction: Andrew Commis ACS (NSW) ~ The Daughter Bob Miller ACS Technical & Innovation Achievement Award Paul Nichola The Drew Llewelyn ACS Camerimage Scholarship Meg White

Short Films Gold Tripod: Jason Hargreaves ACS (QLD) ~ Wandering Soul Award of Distinction: Brad Francis (QLD) ~ Found

The ACS John Leake OAM ACS Award Mark Kenfield

Drama or Comedy Series & Telefeatures Gold Tripod: Bruce Young (NSW) ~ The Secret River Award of Distinction: Geoffrey Hall ACS (SA) ~ Wolf Creek Ep4

Life Membership David Burr ACS

The Hall of Fame Mandy Walker ACS ASC Steve Windon ACS ASC

Milli Award Australian Cinematographer of the Year Milli: Abraham Joffe (NSW) Tales

By Light - Darren Jew: Submerged Visit www.cinematographer.org.au

ARRI Launches New Lightweight Matte Box ARRI IS ONCE AGAIN investing in its range of high-quality, camera-independent accessories with the introduction of the new Lightweight Matte Box LMB 4×5.

This modular matte box expands on the feature set and creative possibilities of the popular LMB-25 while retaining an entry-level price tag.

ACQUISITION

Features include: One product covering a wide range of applications; Offers quick and easy set up without tools; For 4”x 5.65” and 4”x 4” filter size; and Attractive upgrade options for LMB-25 owners.

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From a single-filter configuration for gimbals, drones, or Steadicams to clamp-on versions up to rod-mounted solutions (using either 15mm lightweight, 15 or 19mm studio rods), the LMB 4×5 makes short work of challenging situations. Altering the various applications doesn’t necessitate any supplementary tools, making set-ups quick and easy. The new matte box is also a highly compatible to legacy accessories; all clamp adapters and filter frames from the former models LMB-5, LMB-15, and

LMB-25 are compatible. The LMB 4×5 also maintains the streamlined design for which ARRI’s LMB range is known.

The features of ARRI´s matte box line, such as tray catchers, tilting capability, and swing-away modules have been retained in the LMB 4×5 while many other features have been added. Enhancements, such as an additional filter stage in two different versions, a tilt-and-flex adapter, as well as flags that fold flat for easier storage without the need to be removed make this matte box unique.

The weight of the LMB 4×5 has been optimized to meet the demands for lightweight accessories on today’s film sets.

To protect the investment of ARRI’s current customers, attractive upgrade options from LMB-25 to the new LMB 4×5 platform are available.

To see the LMB 4×5 in action go to: https://youtu.be/e8obrkvomfk Visit www.arri.com

ACQUISITION

technicians assembled in one of the most spectacular locations in the world, huddled under a pop-up tent, shooting a potato. It was the most beautifully prepared potato. A potato over hot coals shot like you've never seen.

“In fact, it was never seen because it didn't make it in the cut of the movie anyway.”

Another “hot coals” shoot recalled by the Hall of Fame inductee was that of 2005’s ill-fated House of Wax, starring then-famous chihuahua wrangler, Paris Hilton.

“We burnt down Stage 8 of the Warner Bros Movie world,” admitted Windon, “by fuelling it up with wax - and someone had the idea of lighting it with a match. At that time, this was the largest purpose-built sound stage in the Southern Hemisphere. It had been built only two years earlier for the pirate ship in Peter Pan.” In addition to the sound stage, Windon also recalled the destruction of several Panavision Platinum cameras, as well as the miraculous survival of a 50mm prime lens, which he displayed to the ACS Awards’ audience.

“There's a lot of talk these days about degradation and removing the coating off lenses and all that kind of stuff,” he said. “This was presented to me by Panavision Australia, and god, actually it works. This is what it looks like after a studio fire. You know, sitting there for six hours burning. So, that's my desk top counterweight. It could be the new look for 2018.”

“It's funny to how quick decisions can shake your future, like The Fast and the Furious,” said Windon. “It's like meeting the Director Justin Lin. I remember getting a call from me agent to go to Tokyo for an interview with Justin for Fast and the Furious - Tokyo Drift. My agent said ‘You'll either spend a night in Tokyo or you'll stay and shoot the movie’."

“So, I met Justin for dinner at that fancy lost-in-translation hotel. By the end of dinner, he got up, warmly hugged me, and said that I was to be his DP. So, then I was off to Shibuya Square for some extra jocks and socks. That was 12 years and five Fast and Furious films ago.”

Windon relishes his luck working on films like The Fast and the Furious with huge budgets, support from studio executives and magnificent crew, and “all the equipment that I could want to play with”.

He says he has to pinch himself sometimes and that it's “a bit different to the old days” when he would shoot the action from the back of a Holden ute.

“Working on a big Hollywood production sometimes brings with it a different momentum. Some days it's huge and some days things can move very slowly, so there's a saying in Hollywood that the last shot of the day is the martini there have been days on Fast and the Furious where the only shot of the day was the martini.”

Venture Films Adds Sony AXS-R7 4K Recorders for F55 Cameras 4K RAW recording from 60 fps up to 120 fps for the F55 camera compared to previous Sony recorders. For shooting at higher frame rates, the recorder captures 2K RAW at up to 240 fps for the F55 and F5, for playback with 10x super slow motion. Working with high-speed AXSM A Series memory cards, the recorder features dual memory card slots for extra security and to extend recording times.

In addition to AXS-R7 has new recording format, X-OCN. This new format supports high quality workflows at a moderate bitrate. The system retains everything the sensor sees, delivering tonal gradation with 16-bit precision, ideal for High Dynamic Range (HDR) image grading and other cutting-edge workflows that require higher than 10-bit or 12-bit precision.

Rawlings continues, “I guess one of the key requirements that is fulfilled by the AXS-R7 is that the F55 can now deliver higher frame rates – up to 120fps – in 4K for clients who require that. I know a lot of people were asking for longer cache recording times as well and now that has also been addressed.”

Rawlings is known for his high-quality shoots and this often means pushing his equipment to the limit, something he admits to with the AXS-R7. functionality of its F55 cameras, the company decided to purchase Sony’s latest 4K recorder, the AXS-R7.

“When testing the unit, I did push the codec pretty hard,” he says. “Lots of high detail shots, lots of different lighting scenarios and I even pushed the exposure more then I normally would in SLOG. Some of my test shots included scenes

As Venture Films co-founder Gavin Rawlings explains, “I’d been really interested

where I had deliberately overexposed the image by two stops to see how the

in the AXS-R7 recorder ever since it was announced. Owning an F55 camera

new codec looked after bringing the levels back down in post. Happy to report it

the AXS-R7 gave me the ability to shoot 4K at up to 120fps which was such a

looked great. 120fps 4K looks beautiful as well.”

useful feature. I was also very interested in Sony’s new X-OCN codec. Being able

The result of this serious and intense testing was a 4K video which he

to shoot in 16-bit, having access to all your camera raw features in programs

uploaded to YouTube and which can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/

like DaVinci Resolve, and all at a much more efficient file size compared to the

watch?v=YRUaQLhDeB0

original Sony RAW codec was very promising. This means faster offload times,

“Typical environments I have used the AXS-R7 in include beaches, forests and

less storage required and even less processing power all of which saves dollars.

swamp lands,” concludes Rawlings. “Some days were quite hot as well, around

The unit connects effortlessly to the back of the F55 just like the R5 did and

40 degrees Celsius, I also had some light rain, too, and even with all those sorts

also has two slots for cards now meaning you don’t have to stop and change

of weather conditions, the unit held up really well. The AXS-R7 gives its users a

cards, you just keep shooting. Thirty second cache recording on the AXS-R7 is

significant edge by enabling 120fps 4K on the F55. Also, the smaller file size of

another very useful feature, especially when shooting fishing segments!”

the new X-OCN codec is a major plus. There’s even a light variant of the codec

The durable, dust and splash-proof AXS-R7 Portable Memory Recorder attaches

which reduces file size yet again while still maintaining 16-bit recordings and

seamlessly to the high end F55 and F5 CineAlta cameras, speeding up the

having access to all your camera raw features in post.”

4K production workflow without compromising quality. The AXS-R7 doubles

Visit www.sony.com.au and www.sony.co.nz

ACQUISITION

WHEN VENTURE FILMS WAS LOOKING to expand the capabilities and

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SPORTSCASTING Sport coverage worldwide

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Vimond Collaborates with FOX on Global AFL Streaming

SPORTSCASTING

VIMOND MEDIA SOLUTIONS has teamed up with FOX SPORTS Australia to create a global service that will stream Australian Football League (AFL) matches to fans globally. FOX SPORTS launched the subscription-based Watch AFL application in February, in time to broadcast the inaugural AFL Women’s League. The 121st season of the Men’s League commenced on the 23rd of March.

Together with Vimond, the News Corp Australian-owned FOX SPORTS designed Watch AFL to stream every AFL game live and offer it afterwards as a Video On Demand (VOD) service. By using the Vimond Platform as its software foundation, FOX SPORTS Australia was able to develop the Watch AFL App to stream live content.

The Vimond Platform is built around modular, service-oriented architecture which enables a multitude of configurations and easy integration points. The online video platform allows broadcasters to manage live television feeds, as well as ondemand video files, associated metadata, users, bundles, business rules, offers and promotional material.

The Watch AFL deployment involved the Vimond Control Center (VCC) and Vimond Business Center modules, integration with two payment systems (PayPal and Braintree) and additional development by FOX SPORTS.

broadcasters and content owners, and aim to be a complete partner with our customers, seeing the value of collaborating with all parties,” said Miguel Silva, CCO, Vimond Media Solutions. “The Vimond Platform is an especially good fit for sports and global events. It makes it easy to ingest content from different assets and formats, and then distribute that content to different channels. It also enables quick, drag-and-drop content management and facilitates the administration of rights and contracts.”

Thomas Kaurin, Head of Platforms and Development at FOX SPORTS Australia said, “With its modular multi-tenant architecture, the Vimond Platform offers sophisticated tools and controls for every aspect of an OTT service. It allowed us to customise aspects related to our services including integrated payment systems.”

Average attendance per AFL game exceeds 33,000, and the historic launch of a women’s league this year should expand the game’s reach. The hope is that a significant number of overseas-based fans will opt for one of the three AFL Watch paid subscription plans.

“We create our modular, customisable and efficient products for the needs of

Visit www.vimond.com

OSB Picks EVS Xeebra Replay Systems for Rugby Coverage EVS HAS ANNOUNCED that outside broadcast services provider OSB has purchased a fleet of Xeebra multi-camera review systems for use as video assistant referees (VARs) and medical review for all international rugby competition in New Zealand.

Zealand. OSB’s outside broadcast trucks, which are already equipped with EVS live

OSB’s Xeebra selection came after development of a long-term strategic plan and a thorough period of needs and technology assessment. OSB worked with the New Zealand Rugby Union to ensure all requirements were met.

OSB trucks are used for all regular league games and international Rugby Cup

“The beautiful thing about Xeebra is the autonomy it allows,” said Andrew McNaughton, General Manager of OSB. “The operator can run their own show and review what they need at their own speed, without tying up valuable production resources.”

move as needed to support larger one-off events.

The multicamera review systems will be used for games throughout New

Visit www.evs.com and http://osb.co.nz

production solutions, will each have one Xeebra system operating two clients per unit – one dedicated to officiating support and the other to player medical review. matches, and provide all live production equipment for Sky TV, who broadcasts the live programming. An additional Xeebra system, designed for mobility, will Through Xeebra’s interface, operators can view up to 16 synchronised angles simultaneously and zoom inside a single camera if needed.

Quinto Provides Wireless Video Coverage for Racing NSW RACING NSW IS THE REGULATING BODY for thoroughbred horse racing in New

Quinto’s CEO, Tom Pavicic took a personal interest in the project. “With such wide

South Wales, and is responsible for the control of 40 race courses throughout the

coverage areas we had to ensure we had rock steady links with no fading or other

metropolitan and country areas of the state.

artefacts”, said Tom. “The key to the success of the project was the deployment of

Faced with the challenge of bringing live authentic video coverage from stables and

Sector Antennas combined with fibre-optic coverage extenders (FCE) to cover the

the racecourse, Racing NSW turned to Quinto Communications to provide a wireless

race courses. The system is now so flexible that any time in the future Racing NSW

RF video solution capable of providing live pictures from these locations and move

can deploy additional FCE’s in order to cover additional areas of the tracks.”

around the racing coverage area.

Using their long association with AbonAir, Quinto was able to put together a wireless broadcast package consisting of ten AbonAir AB412 camera transmitters and IRU receivers, including remote Camera CCU control and tally light support.

SPORTSCASTING

AbonAir’s AB412 transmitters utilise multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) radio

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architecture that permits simultaneous transmission of two data streams via two radio transceivers. Combining signals into one in the receiver produces better coverage and link stability. The system also employs two antennas at both the

Racing NSW management commented, “We had been looking at various aspects of wireless coverage in great detail and came to the conclusion that the AbonAir system appeared to be an ideal mid-range solution for our regional and country facilities. Quinto Communications kindly provided an ABonAir AB412 evaluation system which we successfully tested as part of the roll out of our new broadcast facilities. The tests were very successful, showing us we could achieve the required range of coverage and desired picture quality. We purchased ten AbonAir AB412

transmitter and receiver to enhance transmission performance and ensure improved

wireless systems that are integrated within our fleet of OB trucks.

video coverage up to 2.5km.

Visit www.quinto.com.au

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The Gold Coast Diaries – Chapter 4

By Jeff Coleman MONDAY 10 APRIL 2017.ARTS CENTRE GOLD COAST, SURFERS PARADISE, QUEENSLAND

from commentator unit through to the Commentary Switching Centre (CSC)

Host Broadcast Business Manager Ben Steendyk calls it a wrap as Steve Mitchell, Manager, Broadcasting for GOLDOC (the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation) – steps down from the stage.

have the chance for one-on-ones with the rights holders to discuss their

Over the past four and a half hours, GOLDOC staff, host broadcaster department heads, and VIP stand-ins have been rehearsing presentations for the World Broadcasters Meeting, which will take place during the next two days. This will be the second gathering of our rights-holding broadcasters (RHBs) here on the Gold Coast and we’ve covered a lot of ground since our first meeting last October.

projects as well, so there’s a high degree of comfort that NEP Host

NEP Host Broadcast always aims to have equipment suppliers locked in 12 months out from a major event such as the Commonwealth Games. This means we’ve moved from the planning through to the execution stage, and can now focus 100% on delivery, with no concerns about who’s doing what, or where supplies or services are coming from.

shower and tidy-up. From there we’ll go over to the Sofitel – opposite to the

It also means we have finalised our rate card for services to RHBs ahead of the meeting, which along with our comprehensive World Broadcasters Manual will give them certainty for their own coverage planning. This has been a huge team effort involving all Host Broadcast departments, most of all for Lindy Dobson, Head of Broadcast Services.

comments, not least because he speaks several languages, something that

SPORTSCASTING

In the Host Broadcast briefing tomorrow afternoon we’ll be providing a full information download on our delivery of the events and how that affects RHBs – for example, everything from venue operations (planning, compounds and access requirements), production processes, camera plans and the location of our beauty cameras, graphics, our multi-channel service, telco requirements and satellite feed bookings, access to archival and library resources, and facilities and space at the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC).

26

at the IBC. In unilateral meetings with the broadcasters on Wednesday morning we’ll specific needs at the IBC, and to also discuss our rate card. NEP works with all of the broadcasters regularly in their home countries, and on international Broadcast will deliver to the standard they’re accustomed to. We also know a lot about the clients’ respective businesses and how they work, and the key individuals. These established relationships and understandings are a great advantage in a complex project such as the Commonwealth Games.

With rehearsals finished I head back to the Host Broadcast Office for a quick Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the site of the IBC – for a welcome cocktail by the pool. Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate will officially welcome the RHBs and speak about what the Commonwealth Games mean to the Gold Coast and Australia. I’m looking forward to hearing his will doubtless surprise and delight our guests.

After cocktails and speeches we will move to the Spiegel Tent to enjoy a private performance from part of the 2017 Bleach* Festival – a city-wide series of events combining sport and art, bringing music, circus, theatre, dance, cabaret, and visual art together. The festival will be in full swing next year during the Games, so it’s an ideal opportunity to give the broadcasters a taste of what’s in store. The celebratory atmosphere on a glorious early autumn evening provides the perfect backdrop for a productive few days, and extensive discussion of our plans to make Gold Coast 2018 the best Commonwealth Games ever.

Tomorrow morning will be GOLDOC’s opportunity to update the broadcasters on events, venues, logistics, transport, press operations and security, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Jeff Coleman is Head of Engineering and Technical Operations for NEP

As the Host Broadcaster we’ve been looking to embrace the advantages new technologies create, and among the innovations we’re most excited to present is our audio over internet protocol (AoIP) commentary solution. This has prompted a re-think on how we facilitate commentary delivery in 2018.

Among the many upsides of our new system will be complete redundancy

Jeff will outline the 26-month project’s objectives and milestones. The

Australia, Host Broadcaster of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

This is the second in a series of reports for Content+Technology in which GC2018 Host Broadcaster – led by NEP Host Broadcast with the support of production partners Seven Network and Sunset+Vine – will deliver the event television and digital broadcast to rights-holding broadcasters around the world – all up some 1,100 hours of live television.

SPORTSCASTING

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PCCW & Ideal Systems Deliver HK Rugby Sevens in 360° Virtual Reality PCCW GLOBAL, the international operating division of Hong Kong telecommunications provider, HKT, and systems integrator Ideal Systems recently delivered the world’s first live 360° and 3D multi-camera coverage of the 2017 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens with the support of Now TV, the official host broadcaster of the event, providing viewers with a totally immersive virtual reality (VR) viewing experience.

PCCW Global’s expertise in live mega event management and new media technology delivery, together with Ideal Systems’ broadcast solutions and virtual reality expertise, enabled the team to deliver this complex solution in less than six weeks from project initiation.

The collaboration involved Ideal Systems delivering the content acquisition using a number of pitch-side Nokia OZO 360° cameras. These cameras provided a UHD IP signal which was delivered over HKT fibre to Nokia servers in the control room, to facilitate live stitching from each of the cameras’ eight 2K lenses to create multiple stitched 3D UHD streams.

“This is part of Ideal System’s Ideal Live and our Ideal Live is the rental and live production division of Ideal Systems and we’re bringing these 360 cameras out for live events,” says Fintan Mc Kiernan, CEO of Ideal Systems S.E.A. “We have a Nokia OZO camera on the south side of the pitch, we have one here in the middle of the pitch and we’ve got one on the north side of the pitch all facing out with their 3D view because they’re 360 cameras but on their forwardfacing axis it actually is a binocular 360 which gives the real VR, virtual reality, experience for viewers as well as 360 surround sound as well.

“This is quite an immersive experience. It’s a first in the world for rugby, live coverage. It’s the first in Asia for any sort of major international sports event to be done in 360 and Ideal Systems are very proud here in Hong Kong at the Rugby Sevens to bring this absolute cutting edge technology into the sport of rugby and to provide this new ‘ideal viewpoint’, excuse the pun, for viewers at the side of the pitch that you can have a virtual seat on the touch line in Hong Kong stadium.”

SPORTSCASTING

According to Marcus Lanxinger, Head of Customer Relations, Asia, for Nokia OZO, “When we were creating the OZO, we’re talking about virtual reality. So, how do you replicate reality?

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“First it has to be 360 degrees, but it also needs to be dimensional because it’s the way we see stereoscopic. Based on that, we designed a camera that is not only able to capture just a 360-degree image, but a dimensional 360-degree image, a stereoscopic 360-degree image. I think it’s a really, really crucial thing to point out because when we talk about virtual reality the word reality in it implies those sort of attributes, right? We hear a lot about 360 and VR. There’s a lot of difference and I’d like to point out 360 video is not VR. I would say this is one of the first full-on VR live experiences that have been done because the app hasn’t been published before using our Play SDK which enables the full

experience so I think that’s what makes this really unique.

“I think especially for sports and rugby you need that three-dimensionality to get the full experience because they’re big guys, there’s a lot of action, they’re crashing into each other. It’s a sport that you just can’t convey if you’re watching it on a flat surface and I think that’s one of the biggest thing to us to point out, that 360 does not mean VR. The Nokia OZO camera features eight lenses, as well as eight microphones.

“Not only do we capture 360-degree 3D image but we also capture three-dimensional sound which is also very important,” says Marcus Lanxinger. “Each of these lenses have a 2K by 2K image. We compress that signal through a fibre cable at the back. It’s actually using something called an SFP adaptor, which is an industry standard. We are getting the 2K by 2K in a raw signal, so it’s in a Bauer pattern RAW format. It’s getting packaged into the fibre line and getting decoded on a live stitching server on the other side.

“Generally speaking, the way we can connect to the camera, there’s two ways. We can connect to it wirelessly but in this case what we did, we actually enabled so we can network the camera and actually provide remote control over the web browser so we can adjust exposure remotely because we were 500 metres away somewhere in the bottom of the stadium so we wanted to make sure we can control the camera as well.

“It actually converts the USB ports through a Raspberry Pi which is very inexpensive and then acts a router, goes out into a fibre, basically taking the fibre and going back to Ethernet and then we get a web page control. Not only do we have full control on the live stitching parameters in the live parameters but we can, of course, also control parameters like shutter, colour temperature, etcetera, which dynamically adjust throughout the day.”

The 360° audio and video streams were switched and passed through to Harmonic Electra VS encoders for delivery to the PCCW Global media delivery network. The Electra VS compression platform enabled PCCW Global to distribute UHD VR content to consumers on a variety of devices, including PCs, smartphones and Samsung Gear VR head-mounted devices (HMDs).

According to Darren Breeze of Ideal Systems, “What we do is we take the output in 4K from the vision switcher and we pass it through to two harmonic encoders and out of that we’re creating seven out-streams at the moment for the rugby. We’re doing a DASH stream at 4K, a DASH stream at multi-resolution from HD down. That is used for the heads-up display visors. Also, we’re just creating a number of HLS feeds as well, one in 4K, one in multi-rate. That is used for web properties.

Continues p30>

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SPORTSCASTING Continued from p28

Our client will take it out and put it on their website. Further to that, we’re also sending RTMP streams out to Facebook and to You Tube as well so they’ve have You Tube live. Coupled with that also, for You Tube publishing, we appear on the 360 channel in Google Cardboard. The platforms we’re dealing with are the Oculus products, so it’s the Gear VR from Samsung. We’re also servicing the Vive from HTC. They’re the 4K platforms. Underneath that we’ve got the website outputs from our client to run it on their web property. They’re doing sit down at your PC and scroll around-type VR. “We also have two publishing servers, so there’s two ways of delivering to the CDNs. We’re doing push to a number of CDNs. We basically publish on two publishing servers that are put together by us and then there’s a number of CDNs coming in and picking up from our file system and then republishing on the CDN. Also for you Tube and Facebook, we actually push straight from the encoders through via RTMP through the firewall, so we also provide the network security. The backhaul to the internet is done via two fibre 1 gig links. So, we have main and backup, main and backup, everything is dual path and redundant. We’re basically publishing a couple of versions of this program in different resolutions to a CDN which is then used for the main distribution for the 4K and the subsequent – the lower resolution as well and that’s DASH streaming as well. We’re doing DASH, we’re doing HLS, we’re doing RTMP all out of one process on the Harmonic encoder and then we distribute it through the various publishing platforms.

The 360-degree VR workflow also featured Nokia OZO VR cameras integrated with Adobe Premiere for postproduction, the Harmonic Electra VS system for UHD compression, and Ideal Live 360, a solution co-developed by Ideal Systems that includes a VR application for Gear VR headsets and a cloud-based VR analytic backend service. Using the Electra VS system, PCCW Global was able to encode live video into multiple profiles and formats, including DASH UHD ABR, AVC and HEVC, ensuring that viewers of the Hong Kong Sevens tournament enjoyed stunning 360-degree, VR visuals on any device.

Six streams were routed from the stadium for live distribution by Now TV to consumers’ mobile devices, PCs and VR headsets, including Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, Zeiss VR One Plus and Google Cardboard via YouTube 360.

The challenges of real-time live VR streaming compared to traditional TV

revolve around the complexity of dealing with data rates which are significantly larger and more demanding on the delivery networks – with close to 6Gbps of uncompressed video coming from each OZO Live Server. By way of comparison, reports from Broadband Forum suggest that even basic VR video requires 17 times the bandwidth of normal HD video.

From Ideal Systems’ side, the project involved its live production teams for the on-site set up and live “stitching and switching” production. It also involved Ideal Systems’ software development department, which developed and published the downloadable apps utilizing the Nokia OZO API for the VR headsets and provided onsite network security and publishing platforms.

According to Alex Berriman, Product Specialist, Mobility, Security and Digital Solutions at PCCW Global, “PCCW Global is expanding its media delivery capabilities and part of that, we see VR has a big future in media delivery.

Our speciality is in the network delivery and connectivity and we believe that bandwidth is going to be a huge part of delivering live VR. So, PCCW Global has partnered up with Idea Systems to deliver this source-to-screen VR project.

Ideal Systems has provided all the VR production skills and expertise while PCCW Global has contributed on the connectivity and media delivery. Together, that brings a source-to-screen solution for the Hong Kong Sevens.

“It’s been great working with Ideal and bringing this new technology and the new capabilities to the PCCW Global media portfolio. Ideal’s been great to work with. They are VR specialists. They brought the equipment, the technology, the production crew behind it and it’s really been a good partnership between PCCW Global and Ideal.

You can view Ideal System’s behind the scenes video at https://youtu.be/pLlZtmfAFZY 360 Degtree footage from the Opening Ceremony can be viewed at https://youtu.be/SiUQDreRefQ Visit www.pccwglobal.com and www.idealsys.com

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Nine Enlists Viz for Rugby League AR and 3D Graphics AUSTRALIA’S NINE NETWORK is pioneering the use of the latest augmented reality (AR) technology with Viz Arena, a real-time virtual sports enhancements graphics platform from Vizrt. The network has partnered with Alston Elliot, a graphics systems and services provider, to operate Viz Arena systems at each of the network’s live televised National Rugby League games, including its flagship program, ‘Friday Night Live’. Instead of using conventional full frame or overlay graphics, the Alston Elliot team is utilising Viz Arena for 3D team logos, lineups and player statistics.

“After the success of our augmented reality graphics package run through Viz Arena and Spidercam for our cricket coverage, I was keen to get AR on every rugby league broadcast, and of course for State of Origin and the NRL Finals Series,” said Alex Rolls, Executive Producer at Nine Network. “The use of Viz Arena to provide our AR solution when Spidercam is not in use has been well received as we continue to innovate ways to best display the amount of information we bring to viewers. Without additional hardware onsite, the calibration and keying are extremely robust and the integration with Viz Artist gives us the creative freedom to display any graphic.”

Viz Arena and it’s optical tracking is a cost-effective alternative to mechanical tracking which involves logistical issues such as transport of hardware to and from each venue. In addition, calibrating individual cameras is time consuming and requires technical expertise. Viz Arena is a software-based solution, resulting in minor transportation costs and reduced set-up time. It’s also been designed to work with a multilateral feed from a remote destination, made possible because of its ‘Cut Detection’ capabilities.

Viz Arena is used in the OB van onsite at each rugby match to place virtual 3D and AR graphics (including advertising and visual analysis tools) into the live video coverage of the matches and on the pitch. Currently all the graphics are coming from a single camera during each broadcast, but, thanks to new features within Viz Arena, Nine Networks’ Sports crews will soon use multiple camera angles and include more camera movements to add production value for viewers.

There are also plans to use the Viz Arena systems for placing virtual ads on the pitch.

Helping to streamline the remote production workflow, the Viz Arena system is integrated with EVS slow motion instant replay technology, leveraging all the various camera feeds coming into the OB van. Without any tracking devices on the cameras, and working solely from the image, a Vizrt research and development team made sure the camera tracking and keying technologies could stand up to the rigours of live television.

“One of the key features of the graphics systems was the ability to use augmented reality content across every match, including those where a Spidercam is not present,” said Nick Baily, CEO of Alston Elliot. “Viz Arena has proved to be an ideal solution, and has more than lived up to our expectations.

It’s a perfect fit insofar as we possess a wealth of Vizrt creative expertise in our design team, whilst the quick setup and calibration process is a major plus with a schedule as demanding and geographically diverse as NRL in Australia.”

Visit www.vizrt.com

Nine Sports and NRL’s GPS Player Tracking NINE’S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS, in conjunction with the NRL, recently announced the addition of a GPS player tracking system, the Telstra Tracker, to deliver in-match technology to viewers during State of Origin. This is exclusively live and free.

Live information including speed, distance covered, heat maps of where players have been on the field, will all be incorporated into this Australian-first technology – and a first for rugby league broadcasting.

the Telstra Tracker to our State of Origin broadcast. It’s been a massive effort by all parties to make this happen, with viewers the big winners. The data we’ll display will take the audience deeper into the inner sanctum of what’s available to players and coaches during a match, and give everyone watching a greater understanding of what it takes to play rugby league at the ultimate level.”

The Telstra Tracker is made possible through a collaboration between Nine, the NRL, NSWRL, the QRL, along with GPS player tracking specialist, Catapult.

Together they unveil a system that NRL clubs and coaches use to measure players’ key performance indicators.

The technology, known as LPS or Local Positioning System, is more accurate

Executive Producer of Nine NRL, Ben Clark said, “We’re really excited to add

Visit www.nineentertainmentco.com.au

than GPS as it relies on 20 beacons placed around Suncorp Stadium. The data is accurate to within 15 centimetres.

Magna has EPL Under Control Down Under

The incoming English Premier League (EPL) feed by Nevion Contribution Encoders is delivered to Australia by multiple redundant paths from Singapore.

The feed is in the form of ten lots of 18Mbps Single Program Transport Stream (SPTS). The need was to supply a solution to allow not only failover of a channel but also switching of the individual streams from source to destination.

the Melbourne exchange in an active configuration. These delivered channels are selected and managed by the VideoIPath software.

In addition, a clip server using Mediaware InStream Splice software is used as the emergency slate or clip source for the ten channels. The ten channels are then presented as an SPTS and delivered to the Nevion eMerge Router where they fall under the control of VideoIPath.

According to Magna Systems Senior Solution Specialist Tim Banner, “If there is a loss of input on any or all of the incoming EPL feeds, then an emergency clip or

With Magna’s help a workflow was devised whereby the ten SPTS from Singapore are routed to the input of a Nevion Video Delivery System which comprises the Nevion eMerge Video Router and Nevion NX 4600 gateway, located in two independent sites in Sydney and Melbourne.

slate is selected on any of the ten channels. This emergency source replacement

The workflow provides a main and backup path of the SPTS feeds, that is replicated across the two sites. The eMerge Video Router is managed by the Nevion VideoIPath software, which has the ability to switch on a channel by channel basis to allow for input source selection to the output channel destination.

For IP monitoring Magna provided a TAG Video System solution. Here multiple

The output of the NX 4600 is then provided for delivery to satellites and to MediaExcel HERO Live transcoders for OTT delivery.

End point customers receive ten channels from both the Sydney exchange and

is replicated at both Sydney and Melbourne exchanges. This also means each of the ten output channels on the SPTS can select as their source a channel or any of the backup sources.” channel displays on multiple screens are provided by decoding the SPTS stream from the Singapore feeds. In addition, post processing through the NX 4600 is also presented to the TAG system and main and redundant processed channels from both Sydney and Melbourne exchanges are also displayed.

Finally, Magna installed and used BridgeTech IP probes for additional monitoring.

Visit www.magnasys.tv

SPORTSCASTING

MAGNA SYSTEMS AND ENGINEERING has devised, developed and implemented a control and monitoring solution that is part of the English Premier League soccer being broadcast to Australian audiences across multiple platforms.

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NEWS OPERATIONS www.content-technology.com/newsoperations

Cloudy with a Chance of Monetisation

By Phil Sandberg THERE ARE CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON, COGNITIVE CLOUDS. That’s the word from recent IBM acquisition, The Weather Company, and its AsiaPacific Leader, Hitesh Upadhyay.

“IBM as a company is transforming like many other tech firms,” says Upadhyay.

“Historically, we’ve been known for our software and hardware, but now we want to become a cognitive cloud company. One thing that we are absolutely sure of is the future is cognitive. Some of the competitors say its AI, artificial intelligence, but the way we look at cognition is not just a machine running an AI, it’s about how do you build a platform that’s learning on a daily basis.

“The last few years, we have built a platform, we have built the technologies but we have realised that the data is the key natural resource in technology without which you can’t do anything meaningful. If we have a lot of noise in the datasets, the outputs and the outcomes are not really that powerful.

“There are very few datasets out there that impact almost every industry, every geography and it’s data that you can publicly use with clients and scale where your app can be.

“The Weather Company has mapped the atmosphere over the last 15 years and one thing they can do which nobody else can do is any precise location in the world at a 500-metre resolution, we can give you clean, historical weather data going back 20 years. We can give you current conditions and we can forecast all the way up to six months for that point in the world.”

With a more than 90% market share, and customers such as Fox, NBC and CNN, The Weather Company is the leader in the US media market. In APAC, the company works with the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) providing media solutions to the Malaysian broadcast stations. Vietnam TV has been a long-time customer and the company’s datasets are leveraged by big broadcasters in China. According to Hitesh Upadhyay, it is now easier than ever

for media companies to leverage this global reach.

“If a broadcaster that is very regional wants to pull content in that’s more global, a serious weather event happening in another part of the world which they want to broadcast, right now it’s very manual, there’s a lot of effort they need to do to bring that content in. We make that seamless. We can literally pull any location, any geography, get the feeds, both video and the data site, into the workflow in real time and publish that content so your TV station can become a global TV station right away. And it’s not limited to weather content. It’s something that a broadcaster can pull in real time into a graphical interface that they can supplement with real-time video that may be capturing from the eld along with other content.

“One of the other media solutions we have is around augmented reality. We have something called Max Sky where you can do 3D imaging for any location in the world including terrains, buildings, cities and portray real time weather for that location. It’s all about immersive video, immersive media, immersive graphics.

“We have a solution called WEATHERfx. The beauty of the WEATHERfx is that we give the broadcaster different options. They can take our property, our apps and so forth, and we can co-label with the broadcaster. WEATHERfx is all about taking consumer location information and laying the weather events along with the purchase behaviour and the background of the propensity to spend and use that to monetise from an advertising perspective. If a broadcaster, first of all, wants to go social and wants to go digital, we can have them do that but we can help with the ad platform side as well because we have a lot of experience.

Visit www.theweathercompany.com

Combating Fake News THE 2016 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, 2016 Brexit vote, 2017 French presidential elections, 2017 German presidential elections … the influence of fake news on the democratic debate is growing and, unfortunately, this trend is likely to stay. It is a global issue that must be addressed on all fronts: better journalist training, collaborative approaches to spot fakes news, slowing down the spread of unconfirmed reports on social media, etc.

Bringing together ANNOVA’s expertise in editorial workflows and Zetta Cloud’s Digital Intelligence algorithms (recently boosted by a Google Digital News Initiative grant), the collaboration between the two companies aims to help journalists identify suspicious content before they use it as a source in their own story-creation process.

The system they developed takes each piece of online news content that is ingested into the OpenMedia system, such as RSS feeds or tweets, and

automatically analyses it with the TrustServista algorithm. Journalists then get a real-time clear traffic-light indicator on the trustworthiness of each news piece directly in the OpenMedia user interface, as well as detail on the factors influencing the total “trust score”: the origin of the information called “patient zero”, clear identification of the author, clear context setting (who/ when/where), sentiment (positive, negative or neutral), etc.

The current integration focuses on the analysis of external content that have a URL, such as RSS feeds or tweets. The platform will soon be extended so that any piece of raw text can be ingested and analysed, including agency wires or external stories. English is the only language being supported at the moment but support for German, French, Arabic and Persian will be added in the future.

Visit www.trustservista.com

NBC News Invests in Euronews

NEWS OPERATIONS

U.S. MEDIA GIANT NBC News and Euronews have announced the closing of a transaction in which NBC News is making a significant financial investment in Euronews. NBC News is acquiring 25% of the company, with the funding going to support expanded news coverage and programming across Europe.

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Media Globe Networks will continue to be the majority shareholder in Euronews, and the existing public shareholders will remain in the company and continue to ensure its European focus and sensibility. The company's TV and digital platforms will ultimately be co-branded EuronewsNBC. Euronews employs nearly 500 journalists, and reaches 434 million homes across 158 countries, in 12 languages, on television and on digital platforms.

Michael Peters, CEO of Euronews, said, "The expertise of NBC News combined with the uniqueness of Euronews' European DNA, will allow us to fully realise our 'All Views' editorial philosophy. This unrivalled collaboration reflects our shared commitment to unbiased reporting. It also strengthens Euronews' mission to

empower people around the world with independent information they can trust."

Deborah Turness, President of NBC News International, will lead the NBC side of the collaboration, providing editorial and programming leadership as well as strategic guidance. She will work in partnership with Peters.

"Together, NBC News and Euronews will strengthen and deepen the commitment to European journalism and the 'All Views' brand,” said Turness.

We will create compelling programming and content that will give voice to the people, the views and the diversity of Europe."

The coming together of the two brands will see Euronews access NBC's newsgathering, digital content and programming expertise. Likewise, Euronews will provide news content and resources from Europe for use on NBC News and MSNBC programs and platforms.

Visit www.euronews.com

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NEWS OPERATIONS

Core SWX Powers Up Fleet Micro Charger CORE SWX HAS ANNOUNCED its new line of Fleet Micro Chargers. The range offers the fastest battery charging times in the industry (four 98wh packs in less than 2.5 hours) and includes v-mount and three-stud charging solutions, with two and four position options for each. All Fleet Micro Chargers are compatible with all Core SWX, RED and Anton/Bauer battery packs, providing peace-of-mind to crews on location with legacy packs or rental batteries.

Every Fleet Micro Charger will incorporate a backlit LCD to display all pertinent battery data. Users will be able to charge power solutions using one of four modes: • Fast Charge mode – Charges battery packs 20% faster.

• SafeFly mode – Set to SafeFly, the Fleet Micro Charger unit discharges/charges all battery packs connected to 30%, bringing them within IATA regulations for air transport.

• Test mode – Determines battery health and recharge performance.

• Hypercine mode – Parallels all packs and provides power to either an unregulated 12v-16.8v four-pin XLR or regulated 28v three-pin XLR DC output to power large-draw setups.

In addition to these modes, each Fleet Micro Charger features a mini-USB port for free firmware upgrades and can transfer battery data to a PC for data-basing.

Visit www.coreswx.com

Torque Launches DVStor Incremental File Transfer TORQUE VIDEO SYSTEMS has launched the DVStor Incremental File Transfer as well as the DVMon XS monitoring probe in a compact form factor.

Torque DVStor is known for its compliance recording, disaster recovery and playout applications. The recently introduced Incremental File Transfer is suited to news organisations monitoring overseas news broadcasts that then require full resolution clips back at home-based studios, as the DVStor can remotely acquire full resolution content and efficiently transfer it to a central ‘catcher’ machine.

The DVStor supports event-driven scheduling, facilitates set up of periodic schedules to acquire and transfer specific programs daily, weekly, and so on.

Scheduled events can also be set with an expiration date, making the system suited to catching the daily summaries of, for example, global sports events.

The paperback-sized DVMon XS offers the same functionality as the DVMon, with an interface running on a web browser, IP Monitoring, ASI Transport Stream Monitoring and template verification, all within a single input.

Visit www.torquevideo.tv

Anton/Bauer Introduces LPD Discharger ANTON/BAUER HAS LAUNCHED its LPD Discharger. Developed in partnership with one of the world’s largest rental houses, the LPD Discharger can discharge up to four 90Wh batteries in three hours or less, helping customers comply with the IATA regulation.

“When the IATA tightened its regulations for battery transport last year it created a big dilemma for rental houses and international broadcasters, whose customers and crews need to fly home from remote shoots,” said Andrew Butler, Product Manager of Anton/Bauer. “Until now there’s been no elegant way to discharge batteries below the 30% threshold, and it simply isn’t feasible for the crew to carry quantities of bulky batteries into the cabin as carry-on. With our new LPD our customers can discharge and ship their batteries in full compliance with the regulations and then fly through security.”

As a dedicated battery discharge unit, the LPD requires no external power.

Rather, it uses energy from the batteries it is discharging. This allows for

travel-friendly operation and ensures that the discharging process does not damage the batteries. Weighing less than 1kg, the system is fan-cooled and thermally protected, making it safe to use and leave unattended in any environment. With its metal chassis, the LPD Discharger is designed to be shipped to any location with the batteries attached.

The LPD is currently available for either Gold Mount or V-Mount batteries.

Visit www.antonbauer.com

Ross Launches Inception.cloud Service and Inception Discovery THIS YEAR’S NAB SAW, Ross Video officially launched its first cloud

technical support.

service, Inception.cloud, offering customers more options for live productions. the company also announced Inception Discovery, a powerful new research tool.

Customers can visit www.inception.cloud to join the subscription service.

Pricing is a monthly rate based on the level of service and number of users.

Academic pricing is also available.

All the Inception product variants are now offered as a monthly subscription service hosted in the cloud, in addition to the traditional turnkey purchase model.

Inception Discovery aims to increase speed and efficiency for journalists by consolidating search capabilities and integrating with the story creation process.

NEWS OPERATIONS

Inception Social, Inception Live, and Inception News are available with the same full feature-set found in the traditional software versions, including a new MOS gateway designed specifically for the cloud.

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“The definition of a broadcaster continues to grow and change and the tools from Ross need to not only keep pace, but stay ahead of the curve,” Ross Video’s Director of Product Management, Shawn Snider said. “This is a groundbreaking approach, especially in the NRCS space, and Ross is excited to lead the charge. Cloud based solutions will offer customers more flexibility not only in technology, but also in pricing models.”

Inception Cloud permits customers to focus on content, while Ross Video manages the cloud services, ensures security, and handles maintenance upgrades to ensure users are always taking advantage of the newest features. Inception Cloud subscriptions include training and Ross Video’s

“Journalists are pulled in a dozen different directions to research and publish content. The goal is to put all the tools for content discovery and curation at their fingertips,” Jenn Jarvis, Marketing Product Manager for Inception said.

“Instead of jumping between windows and tabs across a variety of platforms, Ross is introducing a single user-interface with simple drag-and-drop workflows.”

Inception Discovery creates real-time searches across news agency wires, social media, and the web. Results can be curated and shared across the newsroom, and used to create content for publishing. This technology is available as a plugin in to the story-centric workflows of Inception News, the newsroom computer system from Ross Video.

Visit www.rossvideo.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

AVIWEST’s Video Uplink Sports Universal Modems AVIWEST HAS ANNOUNCED that its DMNG PRO video uplink series has been extended with the new PRO180+. PRO180+ supports most cellular networks deployed globally, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the United States, Canada, Latin America, and most of Asia. This version gives broadcasters and video professionals the flexibility to travel anywhere in the world with a single unit without needing to replace its internal or external cellular modems.

“Broadcasters today need to be prepared to provide live coverage from anywhere in the world,” said Erwan Gasc, CEO at AVIWEST. “With the PRO180+, they can stream video over any cellular network. Compared with other video uplink systems on the market, which require additional modems to support the various networks in each country, the PRO180+ solution is compact, cost-effective, and full featured, making it the perfect tool for

broadcasters on the go.”

In addition to eight universal cellular modems, the PRO180+ features an internal high-efficiency custom antenna array, a built-in Wi-Fi modem, and two video encoders, enabling broadcasters to stream live HD video to receivers with minimal delay. The PRO180+ system automatically detects real-time network capabilities, allowing media professionals to configure and operate the system, as well as communicate with studios through the IFB return channel via a touch-screen interface. The units can also be controlled by AVIWEST’s Manager management system, StreamHub transceiver, and the Remote smartphone application, or any device connected to the unit though the network.

Visit www.aviwest.com

DPA Introduces Audio on the Go with d:vice Interface DPA MICROPHONES RECENTLY ANNOUNCED its new d:vice MMA-A Digital Audio Interface. This latest preamp offers high audio quality for live and mobile journalists. Working with any iOS device, Mac or PC computer, aiding broadcasting or recording sound anywhere in the world.

The d:vice MMA-A Digital Audio Interface is a high-quality, two-channel microphone preamp and A/D converter offering mono, dual and stereo capabilities. This allows a journalist to use the equipment for any situation that might arise. Whether it be a two-channel interview situation or a session of recording ambience sound in stereo.

The d:vice comes with interchangeable lightning and USB cables for connectivity.

Its MicroDot inputs allow the d:vice to be connected to all DPA miniature microphones, including the d:screet Miniature, d:fine Headset, d:vote Instrument and even the d:dicate Recording microphones with the optional MMP-G preamp.

“This is the first pocket-sized digital audio interface that can deliver sound that rivals studio recordings,” says René Mørch, Product Manager at DPA Microphones.

“The d:vice Digital Audio Interface was designed with broadcasters and mobile journalists in mind, but can also be used by other content makers for recording music, filming on location and during both live and recorded broadcasts. With this interface, users can portably record and stream clear and professional audio from the connected microphones.”

The launch of the d:vice MMA-A Digital Audio Interface is just one of a range of planned activities that support and celebrate 25 years of amazing sound with DPA Microphones. During this anniversary year, DPA is planning a number of launches, campaigns and events to reach out to audio enthusiasts.

Visit www.dpamicrophones.com

NEWS OPERATIONS

At about 50 millimetres in diameter, the d:vice Digital Audio Interface is compact, easily fitting in the users’ pocket. It provides best-in-class audio quality and is controlled through a remote application on any iOS device. A DPA app is available for download from the Apple App store. The app makes the users’ job easier, allowing them to store gain settings and low-cut filters for ongoing and future personalised use in dedicated presets. Third-party applications can be used to accomplish specific tasks, including but not limited to live broadcast and high quality recordings.

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NEWS OPERATIONS

VidOvation Introduces VidOsat Portable Satellite Terminal VIDOVATION HAS ANNOUNCED THE launch of its new VidOsat, a lightweight, portable Ku- and Ka-band satellite terminal. With features such as 3G/4G cellular bonding via the AVIWEST DMNG Pro transmitter, the VidOsat is well-suited for digital satellite newsgathering (DSNG), coverage of live sports and entertainment events, on-location Wi-Fi connections, and many other mobile satellite applications.

“The VidOsat is truly the industry’s most versatile portable satellite terminal. It gives DSNG teams everything they need to cover live and breaking news or to store and forward video for later use. And, with its IP networking capabilities it can create an instant Wi-Fi hub at events and other remote locations,” said Jim Jachetta, Executive Vice President and CTO at VidOvation.

The collapsible VidOsat terminal can be transported as checked luggage in its two included IATA-compliant cases. Its ‘no-tools’ assembly features a folding feed arm and quick-deploy tripod for setup within minutes. The tripod has detachable sand feet to allow deployment of ground anchors and high wind stays.

VidOsat’s design, including a five-segment, high-gain, one-meter carbon fibre reflector, ensures excellent performance at the extremities of the satellite footprint. Once the antenna has been assembled users can point it to any satellite using the included MPAD2 hand-held device. The MPAD2 includes

an integrated GPS, electronic compass, and inclinometer that provides a target azimuth/elevation and polarisation position for the intended satellite.

The MPAD2’s built-in signal strength meter allows accurate peaking to the satellite.

VidOsat integrates with the AVIWEST DMNG PRO bonded cellular transmitter, enabling it to bond satellite and cellular signals together for a hybrid transmission that takes maximum advantage of available networks. Also, VidOsat is available with a ruggedised outdoor IP modem/Wi-Fi router, giving operators the ability to create a Wi-Fi hot spot or use the Wi-Fi as a separate WAN interface. Two built-in GSM modem radios give the terminal 3G/4G WAN capability. The VidOsat’s soft cases provide space for these IP sub-systems to be transported without affecting weight budgets.

The VidOsat is available with an optional power distribution unit for simplifying the installation of higher-power VidOsat 16W and 55W antenna systems. In conjunction with the ruggedised outdoor modem, the PDU enables the VidOsat to be powered from a variety of sources – including a 240V source (via a power supply unit) or direct from a 12V vehicle-based source.

Visit http://vidovation.com

Introducing SAM VIBE SNELL ADVANCED MEDIA has announced the launch of SAM VIBE, its new real-time news and sports production solution. SAM VIBE enables a single team to create and deliver high quality news and sports content to social media, the web, and TV. SAM VIBE combines the agility of SAM’s sQ Server with the flexibility of standard IT storage for a scalable platform.

Neil Maycock, EVP and General Manager, Media Software Solutions at SAM commented, “In the past decade mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets have revolutionised the way consumers view content. Watching TV, especially news and sports, has evolved from a fixed pastime into an on-the-go, mobile occurrence with consumers in control. The challenge for content providers is to meet this demand for content anywhere while keeping quality at a premium.

SAM VIBE facilitates this by offering a flexible, cost-effective system that delivers a tightly integrated single platform approach to creating and distributing content rapidly so it reaches every screen first. This is truly a modern platform for efficient news delivery.”

The SAM VIBE real-time production solution is a scalable combination of media storage, production tools, and a customisable workflow engine. The solution utilises standard IT storage and SAM’s sQ Server, and is governed by the VIBE Core, a unified orchestration layer which manages and controls media wherever it resides. All content is stored and maintained in its original format. Packaging and delivery is automated for consistent, high-quality output.

SAM VIBE offers three types of user interface: • Creative applications – a choice of SAM’s Rio editor or Adobe Premiere.

• Browser-based editing – the SAM Go! editor for use in the studio or anywhere with an internet connection.

• PAM (production asset management) tools – including ingest, media management and publishing control.

Visit https://s-a-m.com

Ross Video Advances OverDrive AFTER OVER A DECADE of customer feedback, Ross Video’s OverDrive offers further features to help make productions cleaner and more efficient.

During NAB 2017, Ross showcased V16.3, which includes features such as FloorDirector, QuickCode and Smart QuickRecalls.

Multiple Rundowns allows the user to open multiple running orders for back-

FloorDirector is the newest addition to OverDrive’s toolset, providing information on the status of the show in real-time to a customisable display.

Using an API, the information is displayed using pre-built DashBoard Custom Panels, and users can modify and customise the look and feel. FloorDirector also offers Clip and Shot timers, countdown clocks and shot information for program and preview.

current rundown.

NEWS OPERATIONS

Ross has expanded the feature set of QuickCode. Users can add keywords to the NRCS rundown to modify or add audio elements, and now, QuickCustoms allows users to add macros to any shot through the NRCS. This allows users to dynamically change the show’s look without opening a plugin or story.

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to-back shows. Producers can create breaking news content in a separate rundown and operators can jump between rundowns at any time. Smart QuickRecalls can be used to search any open rundown and add content to the OverDrive offers three editions to choose from: Express, Prime, and Premium.

From entry level to fully loaded, Ross Video’s goal is to build systems that fit its client’s budget and production needs. Purpose-built control surfaces can be added to give operators dynamic control of their show and devices. Ross also provides a turnkey solution with the option to have free server-hardware replacements every three years, or clients can install OverDrive in their own virtual server environment.

Visit www.rossvideo.com

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Black is Back - Grading LEGO Batman

seat in the grading theatre, and also a Baselight ONE to do some supplementary grading as well as handling much of the stereo 3D work.

AFTER THE 2014 SUCCESS of The LEGO Movie, Sydney-based VFX house Animal Logic and Warner Bros. began working on a spin-off, resulting in The LEGO Batman Movie.

“We needed a massive amount of storage – the EXR images were between 50 and 150 megabytes a frame – but the FLUX Store sorted that out for us. In fact, we worked with the same data on both on the FLUX Store and the Baselight TWO, because that gave us added security and the ability to switch between machines almost instantly if anything went down.”

“The process began with Grant and Chris [McKay, the director] where we would work a lot to get exactly the right feel. At one stage, we were dark and gritty and very Batman – very early on they had some ideas where they wanted elements of a 70’s film so we had to work out how we could incorporate those but keep it feeling modern – and then we lifted it up a little to get a bit of fun happening.

“One thing which is commonly misunderstood in animated features is the expectation that shots will come to us already balanced. On LEGO Batman, we had about 300 artists working on scenes throughout the movie, and shot-to-shot you can have different compositors putting in their own nuances, so there is still quite a lot of basic balancing needed to bring it into line.

“From there we did a lot of secondaries. Working alongside production gave us the opportunity for massive attention to detail. We had a heavily multi-channel EXR set-up delivering us a series of passes from lighting, so we were really able to get in there and manipulate things to the nth degree.

“For every frame of the movie we got a single EXR file which had three views: the standard left and right stereo 3D channels and we would often have a mono camera as well to maintain symmetry.

“Packed into each EXR file we would have a breakdown of mattes for characters, body parts, camera and world position, and so on. One of the most important layers we used was a surface colour pass, which gives the base, non-reflective colour of the scene. If we found events where maybe things had too much reflection we could multiply that pass back to bring the reflection down. It not only restored natural colour to the characters, but it also helped to control that crazy, saturated look.

“So, we were basically using Baselight like a very fast compositor to combine all these layers. And although we did not need to use keying a huge amount as we had all the mattes in the EXR files, we used a lot of shape mattes to do subtle re-lighting. It was much quicker for us to accent things than to send it back to production for relighting.

Bram Tulloch, Editorial and DI Engineer at Animal Logic commented, “The power and flexibility of the Baselight grading system and the cloud network architecture enabled us to work this way relatively easily. We have a Baselight TWO as our hero

According to Sam Chynoweth, Baselight’s feature set also helped achieve the desired look for the movie.

“The generalised colour spaces allowed us to work in a much more flexible way than we would ever have been able to do in the past,” he says. “We could switch in and out of colour spaces non-destructively to get the most out of our images. Sometimes you need a big gamut, but sometimes that big gamut starts hampering things when you are trying to fine tune the grade.

“We were working primarily in ACEScc with some custom tweaks, but we would switch in and out of different spaces as we needed them for different tools. That allowed us to stretch the image in such a way that we could get the most out of it: we could push sections while still maintaining key colours, like Batman’s eyes or Robin’s cape. Even when we were pushing our crazy apocalypse colours we had to keep those catch colours in there so people could easily recognise the characters.

“A scene I particularly enjoyed to work on is a dog-fight sequence at the climax of the film, and here the whole ‘more is more’ ethos came into play. We scaled the saturation and the dynamic range up to the maximum, but we used a lot of fast tracking for key characters. There were a lot of important things you needed to be following, but at the same time we wanted to present a spectacle you could just sit back and watch. That was by far the most challenging sequence.”

Creating the HDR Master Grade According to Sam Chynoweth, Animal Logic took its standard dynamic range, digital grade master over to Dolby in LA and found that it slotted in very easily to the HDR world.

“There was some re-balancing needed for the inherent new contrast in the HDR system,” he says, “but no real surprises. We’d done some ‘mock HDR’ tests early on – to make sure that we didn’t have any clamped shots or highlights which had been artificially sat down – making the image darker by shifting the black level down – and once we’d set our key mid-tone, essentially skin tone, at a level which we felt looked right in the HDR scene we then let the highlights move around as needed.

“Depending on the production, if it was possible I think it would be better to grade the master in HDR wide gamut and then step back down for the deliverables. There are ‘gotchas’ in live action – things like outside details through windows you can now see in HDR which no-one on set thought about – for example, there may be a lighting stand in shot which they didn’t think you’d be able to see. So, it’s better to start in HDR where you can see those problems and make creative choices at that point, continues p38>

POST PRODUCTION

“For this all-animated feature, we acted less as post-production and more as part of the production team,” said Sam Chynoweth, Colourist at Animal Logic. “Where we might normally get four weeks to grade a live action movie, here we were embedded in the production process for a year. From near the beginning of the project we were working with production designer, Grant Freckelton, to develop looks and we essentially became an extension of the lighting, compositing and output departments rather than just waiting for finished shots to be delivered to us.

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POST PRODUCTION continued from p37 then when you come back down to a smaller dynamic range it’s still going to work ok. Grading a movie on an HDR monitor is a little bit contentious though as the HDR you see on a monitor is different to HDR you would see in a cinema.”

According to Sam, “The Compress Gamut tool in the upcoming Baselight Version 5.0 is a life-saver, particularly when we came to create the Rec. 709 pass. We were able to get all those colours from the big-screen version into the 709 deliverable with minimal compromise. The Compress Gamut tool just revolutionises the way you do it. Not only is it quicker, but you are getting a much better representation. Given Baselight’s render speeds, we were able to do all our deliverables directly from Baselight.

“Looking to the future, we are very excited by many of the new tools coming in

Baselight 5.0, such as the world-space matte feature and GL shaders, which will save us a lot of time and allow us to write specific tools for production. One of our next big projects [Peter Rabbit] is a hybrid film, and the new screen keyer and perspective tracker will also be huge for us.

“Baselight has allowed us to push the grading process right back to where we have become a key part of production, not just post. As well as sending DNxHDs to our Avids we are looking at comp pipelines using BLGs – once we have matte support in them we’ll have a lot more of a two-way road and will become even more a part of production than we are now, especially with the early look development.

Visit www.filmlight.ltd.uk and www.animallogic.com

SGO Introduces Multi-Dimensional Workflow SGO HAS BEEN DEVELOPING a set of new solutions using Mistika as

same feature architecture as SGO’s Mistika Ultima. SGO says it recognises the

a technology and dissecting its current turnkey offering ‘Mistika Ultima’ to

importance of educating operators on the use of leading edge software that

develop advanced workflow applications aimed at specific tasks.

provides inspired talent the opportunity to turn their creative and ambitious

Mistika VR is an affordable VR focused solution with real-time stitching

vision into professional and sophisticated content.

capabilities using SGO’s optical flow technology. Mistika VR has been

Mistika Insight enables students, freelancers and customers to learn how

developed using Mistika technology, so users can expect advanced capabilities combined with an all new intuitive interface and raw format support with incredible speed.

Mistika VR takes camera position information and sequences and stitches the images together using extensive and intelligent presets. Not only has the application been developed to encompass and work with as many existing VR camera formats as possible, but SGO is investing in the growth of the product

to use Mistika technology through direct hands-on experience with a free software version which is supported by weekly webinars and online tutorials.

Both Mistika VR and Mistika Insight run on Mac, Windows, and Linux enabling users to work at their own pace, within their own environment.

For those interested in a turn key solution, SGO says it will continue to invest in the development of its hero suite ‘Mistika Ultima’. Existing and future

by creating custom pre-sets for productions where teams are building the rigs

customers can expect continuous feature advancements across areas such as

themselves. Mistika VR is available and supported online, on a pay-per-use

HDR, HFR and VR with seamless integration of all the developments that are

basis.

made to the new set of specific solutions.

Meanwhile, Mistika Insight is an educational and training solution with the

Visit www.sgo.es

Free CineXtools CINEDECK, developer of cineXtools and the cineXinsert engine, has launched

While the paid subscription versions are intended for facilities with more complex

cineXtools BASIC, a free version of its standalone insert-edit application.

workflows that require special delivery formats, BASIC incorporates essential

CineXtools is a true cross-codec, cross-wrapper insert editor for files allowing

features like Instant Timecode Restripe, WAV File Support, and Multi-Clip Insert

content producers to fix files instead of completely re-creating them.

that cover many of the needs of independent content producers.

Using a familiar non-linear editor style interface, all cineXtools versions allow users to frame-accurately replace segments of video or audio in closed flat files, without re-rendering or re-exporting entire programs. The new free version supports files containing all qualities and frame-rates of ProRes and DNxHD, the most commonly used codecs for deliverable files, up to YUV10 at resolutions up to 2K and up to two channels of audio.

Along with the free CBR ProRes export plugins and utilities, co-developed with Adobe, Avid, and Auto Desk for their respective NLE platforms for OS X, cineXtools Basic provides all the tools needed to enable a seamless insert-edit workflow for the most popular deliverable formats.

Visit www.cinedeck.com

POST PRODUCTION

Enterprise Version of EDIT Bridge from Marquis

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MARQUIS BROADCAST’S EDIT BRIDGE is an integration application for

presents these as a single consolidated stream to Interplay. This reduces

Adobe Premiere Pro CC, part of Adobe Creative Cloud, and Avid Interplay. The

the communications demands on Avid Interplay compared with multiple

new Enterprise ‘scale-out’ capability now includes advanced user rights and

individually connected editors.

permissions, usability enhancements and crucially, enterprise licensing which

“This is an important development as given appropriate network and scaling,

means multiple EDIT BRIDGE instances can now be run on virtual machines.

it will enable potentially hundreds of Adobe Premiere Pro CC, Adobe After

According to Paul Glasgow, Sales and Marketing Director, Marquis Broadcast,

Effects CC and Apple FCP X users to connect to Interplay ISIS/NEXIS at

“EDIT BRIDGE allows non-Avid editors to connect to an Avid Interplay based

the same time,” continues Glasgow. “As a result, it is the ideal solution for

system so content is discoverable and editable in other applications.

large broadcasters, universities and production centres that have both Avid

“A key advantage of the new Enterprise version is that EDIT BRIDGE requires

Interplay and hundreds (or thousands) of desktops running Adobe Premiere

just one Interplay Web Services connection for all editors concurrently

Pro CC or Apple FCP X.”

connected to the EDIT BRIDGE server, it aggregates all requests and

Visit www.marquisbroadcast.com

POST PRODUCTION

MEDIA STORAGE

MADE SIMPLE

Find out more at: emergingtechsolutions.com/media-entertainment isilonapj@emc.com

POST PRODUCTION

Create, Manage, and Deliver Media Content Edge to Core to Cloud

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POST PRODUCTION

Avid Powers Workflows with the Cloud AT NAB2017, AVID ANNOUNCED a strategic alliance agreement with Microsoft Corp. to cooperatively develop and market cloud-based solutions and cloud services aimed at the media and entertainment industry. As part of the agreement, Avid has chosen Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud hosting platform, and will develop and launch a range of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings powered by the Avid MediaCentral Platform.

The foundation of the alliance is a comprehensive, multi-year strategic agreement in which both companies will make significant mutual commitments and investments in technology, product development and go-to-market efforts. Under the technology and product development cooperation elements of the agreement, to support Avid’s product development efforts and investments, Microsoft will invest additional resources and funding to help accelerate time-to-market for targeted cloud-based solutions and specific Azure-based cloud services for the media and entertainment industry.

As part of the commercial cooperation, Avid will offer Microsoft Azure hosting and media services exclusively as an integral part of its own portfolio of cloudbased solutions and cloud services. In addition, the companies will work in close cooperation on the overall go-to-market approach, which will help clients migrate to the cloud easily and more cost-effectively, and allow them to work with both companies seamlessly.

SD to 4K Interface Avid also announced the availability of Avid Artist | DNxIQ, a new hardware interface that delivers extensive format support, from SD to 4K.

The alliance between the companies is expected to deliver a continuous stream of hosting and services offerings over the next 18 months, with the first wave of offerings slated for a phased release during the second half of 2017.

Built in partnership with Blackmagic Design, Avid Artist | DNxIQ is compatible with any Avid Artist Suite solution and many third-party creative tools — including Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, Apple Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere Pro CC, and more.

MediaCentral

Avid Artist | DNxIQ’s Universal Mastering feature complements Avid’s Media Composer | Symphony Option, providing real-time format and frame-rate conversion on output and playback. The new interface supports SD, HD, 2K, UHD and 4K ingest, monitoring and output. As well as supporting all major NLEs, it also supports Thunderbolt 3 and PCIe for Mac and PC. The new Avid Artist | DNxIQ video interface is available now.

Core Components of Avid MediaCentral in the Cloud include: • Hosted Applications – With cloud-enabled Avid client applications, software can be licensed to run on premises, in a private cloud data center, and in the public cloud for deployment flexibility and increased utilization.

• Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX – This new web-based application offers a completely redesigned and highly responsive user experience for the MediaCentral Platform, making it super-fast and intuitive for anyone to search, browse, access, edit, collaborate, and publish content from any workstation, laptop, or mobile device.

• Cloud-enabled Media Suite – Avid Media Suite applications, including Interplay | Production, Interplay | MAM, iNEWS, and Social Media Hub, as well as Maestro and 4Designer, are being cloud-enabled with license options to run on-premises, in a private data center, and in the public cloud.

• Cloud Media Services – To give MediaCentral Platform users even greater efficiency, Avid is introducing new media services, including: • Unified Avid Dialogue Search service uses exclusive phonetic indexing technology to enable keyword searches that span diverse libraries of content.

• Avid Illuminate automatically verifies captions, video description, and languages in content for fast and accurate broadcast compliance and quality assurance.

POST PRODUCTION

Avid MediaCentral Platform is currently available for certain cloud-based deployments, with further solutions to broaden and simplify cloud deployments coming in late 2017.

Azure provides flexible deployment options between public-cloud, privatecloud or on-premise datacenter.

Avid announced new cloud innovations for the Avid MediaCentral Platform and its suite of tools and workflow solutions. The Avid MediaCentral Platform is now cloud-enabled, and can be deployed on premises, in a private data center, or the public cloud, providing users with the ability to create, distribute, and manage content more efficiently and profitably using one common platform.

The move also enables several of the company’s comprehensive set of creative tools and workflow solutions to be deployed in the cloud along with the Avid MediaCentral Platform.

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Enterprise Agreements with flexible Enterprise Licensing, enabling media organizations to enjoy economies of scale by aggregating spend across departments and sites.

• Infrastructure on Demand – The new MediaCentral Infrastructure Management Layer enables organizations to scale resources, add new capabilities, and optimise their storage, computing power, and bandwidth across their entire enterprise.

• Cloud-enabled Connectivity Toolkit – With its open architecture and Connectivity Toolkit APIs, MediaCentral makes it easy to connect thirdparty Alliance Partner tools, technologies, and services to the platform to streamline workflows.

• Flexible Licensing Options – For greater business agility, Avid is now offering

Pro Tools The forthcoming release of the Avid Pro Tools digital audio workstation will feature a comprehensive suite of Dolby Atmos workflows to enable audio post professionals to work more fluidly in the multi-channel and object-based audio format. New features will include built-in Dolby Atmos panning, deep Avid pro mixing control surface integration, advanced automation with the Dolby Rendering and Mastering Unit (RMU), and more.

Pro Tools enhancements include support for Dolby Atmos 7.1.2 audio stems with built-in fold-down logic. There is also on-the-fly switching and automation between surround and object outputs. Pro Tools also synchronises audio and automation punches between input and playback modes in conjunction with the Dolby RMU. And, support for ADM BWAV files, containing object metadata, makes remixing more efficient and economical for repurposing content. Pro Tools with native Dolby Atmos mixing will be available in Q2 2017.

Avid Pro Tools is now qualified on Avid NEXIS media storage environment, enabling audio creative teams to can share projects on a centralised pool of media storage.

Major new features in the upcoming version of Avid NEXIS include: • High-performance storage groups, with each media pack capable of data rates up to 50% faster at 600MB/s, providing the performance needed for high-volume 4K/UHD, HD, and bandwidth-intensive media workflows.

• Capacity to play back over 215 streams of DNxHR-encoded 4K media at high quality, or almost 1,400 streams of DNxHR-encoded 4K media at standard quality.

• Scalability enhancements that double the capacity of Avid NEXIS | Enterprise systems to support up to 48 media packs across a single scale-out networked system. Customers can mix and match a combination of Avid NEXIS | E5, E4, and/or E2 engines, providing nearly 3PB of storage capacity and 28GB/s of high-performance bandwidth.

The Pro Tools software version, which adds optimised workflows for Avid NEXIS, will be available late Q2. The new version of Avid NEXIS is available in Q2.

Visit www.avid.com

POST PRODUCTION

Blackmagic Announces DaVinci Resolve 14 AS MANY WOULD KNOW, Blackmagic Design has announced DaVinci Resolve 14, the biggest release in the history of the product. Blackmagic believes the new DaVinci Resolve will break through the stagnant toolsets used in post production and offer a new path forward for the smallest, as well as the largest facilities in the world.

New features include up to 10 times performance improvement, a whole new audio post production suite with Fairlight audio built in, and multi user collaboration tools that allow colour and mix audio from multiple systems, all in the same project at the same time.

This makes DaVinci Resolve 14 three high-end applications in one. Customers get professional editing, colour correction, and the new Fairlight audio tools.

It takes a single click to switch between editing, colour, and audio. Then multi user collaboration tools let everyone work on the same project concurrently – customers no longer need to import, export, translate or conform projects.

The public beta of DaVinci Resolve 14 is available as a free download from the Blackmagic Design website for all current DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Resolve Studio customers.

Visit www.blackmagicdesign.com

Autodesk Showcases Latest Flame Family and 3D Software AUTODESK RECENTLY UNVEILED the newest versions of its solutions for media and entertainment at NAB. Each update offers enhancements that simplify the creative process, streamline artist collaboration, and equip users for the future of content creation.

• Arnold 5.0 delivers several significant updates including better sampling, new standard surface, standard hair and standard volume shaders, Open Shading Language (OSL) support, light path expressions, refactored shading API and a VR camera.

New releases showcased included:

• Shotgun updates accelerate multi-region performance and make media uploads and downloads faster regardless of location.

• Autodesk Flame Family 2018 update 1 for VFX, the Arnold 5.0 renderer, Maya 2017 update 3 for 3D animation, performance updates for Shotgun production tracking and review software, and 3ds Max 2018 software for 3D modelling.

• Autodesk Flame 2018 update 1 includes new action and batch paint improvements such as 16-bit floating point (FP) depth support, scene detect, and conform enhancements.

• Autodesk Maya 2017 update 3 includes enhancements to character creation tools such as interactive grooming with XGen, an all-new UV workflow, and updates to the motion graphics toolset that includes a live link with Adobe After Effects.

• Autodesk 3ds Max 2018 offers Arnold 5.0 rendering via a new MAXtoA 1.0 plug-in, customisable workspaces, smart asset creation tools, Bézier motion path animation, and a cloud-based large model viewer (LMV) that integrates with Autodesk Forge.

Flame Family 2018 update 1, Maya 2017 update 3 and 3ds Max 2018 are all available now via Autodesk e-stores and Autodesk resellers. Arnold 5.0 and Shotgun are both available via their respective websites.

Visit www.autodesk.com

AJA Previews FS-HDR with HDR Conversion Support

FS-HDR, a 1RU universal converter/frame synchroniser, is designed to meet the HDR/WCG needs of broadcast, OTT, post and live event AV environments, where real-time, low-latency processing, colour fidelity and metadata handling are of paramount importance. FS-HDR’s HDR/WCG capabilities leverage video and colour space processing algorithms within Colorfront Engine, specially-licensed

by AJA, and developed by Colorfront’s CTO Bill Feighter and Lead Engineer Tamas Perlaki.

access many years of Colorfront’s research into SDR/HDR and camera output format conversion, plus a sophisticated tone-mapping toolset which delivers technically-accurate and visually-pleasing results.”

FS-HDR features include: • Real-time HDR to HDR, HDR to SDR and SDR to HDR conversions including BT.2020 to BT.709 colour space conversion.

• Single-channel mode for 4K/UltraHD or 2K/HD frame sync and conversion including HDR conversions.

• Four-channel mode for simultaneous independent 2K/HD/SD channels for standard conversion and frame sync workflows.

• 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD/SD video processing and up, down, cross-conversion.

Powered by Colorfront Engine, FS-HDR’s HDR and WCG processing support enables real-time processing of 4K/UltraHD and 2K/HD, including HDR conversions and 4K/UltraHD HDR downconversion to HD HDR. FS-HDR also enables the conversion of popular camera formats from multiple vendors into the HDR space, plus conversion to-and-from BT.2020/BT.709 as needed.

• A range of I/O options for 4K/UltraHD including Quad 1.5G, Dual 3G, and Quad 3G, 6G and 12G over a range of SDI and optional fibre choices.

“Our AJA FS family of products have been incredibly popular in delivering ultrareliable video and audio conversion needs for anything that comes up on-set, in an OB truck, at a facility, or in a live event production scenario,” said Nick Rashby, President, AJA Video Systems. “There has been a rising demand from these markets for a path to support HDR workflows. Partnering with Colorfront is enabling us to solve our customers’ HDR workflow requirements today.”

• 4K/UltraHD/2K/HD/SD up, down, cross-conversion.

“AJA’s professional video solutions already provide robust, powerful and costeffective video output for our On-Set Dailies, Express Dailies and Transkoder products,” said Aron Jaszberenyi, Managing Director of Colorfront. “In choosing the new FS-HDR solution with Colorfront Engine, AJA customers will instantly

• SMPTE 2SI I/O support for broad compatibility with 4K/UltraHD devices.

• Four-channel 2K/HD/SD video processing and conversion.

• SD/SD aspect ratio conversion.

• HD/HD cross-conversion (720p/1080i).

• A 1RU frame offering space, power and cost efficiencies suited to broadcast trucks and postproduction or broadcast settings.

Audio I/O processing with a 272×208 matrix of audio possibilities, support for a range of audio feeds from discrete AES to MADI and embedded SDI audio, with each audio input offering sample-rate conversion.

Visit www.aja.com

POST PRODUCTION

DURING NAB 2017, AJA Video Systems previewed FS-HDR, a new product delivering HDR workflow conversion capabilities. Building on AJA’s flagship FS4, and incorporating the latest HDR technology from Colorfront, FS-HDR provides HDR and Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) processing and conversion for real time 4K/ UHD and 2K/HD workflows.

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM Masstech Merges with SGL to Form MAM Powerhouse MASSTECH AND SOFTWARE GENERATION LTD. (SGL) have announced a merger and will now be known as Masstech Innovations Inc., claiming to be the broadcast and media industry’s largest provider of solutions for managing the lifecycle of media assets.

“The merger provides us with an opportunity to grow and develop solutions, particularly on-ramps to the cloud and managed services, faster than we could have done as two smaller independent companies,” continued French.

“Customers can rest assured that we will not leave anyone behind.”

UK-based growth equity investor FPE Capital becomes the majority shareholder in the expanded company, with Masstech President and CEO Joe French, who has taken an increased ownership position, running the combined business from the UK headquarters.

SGL founders and directors Bernie Walsh, Dave Bray and Paul Moran will eventually retire after a period of consulting with the combined entity to ensure a smooth transition.

“The merger dramatically strengthens our business,” said French. “With over 600 active Blue Chip customers and 120 employees, we have the financial strength and the critical mass to provide the next generation media lifecycle management solutions and world-class support our customers are looking for. Our combined engineering teams will continue to develop easy-to-use tools to automate media movement and transcoding workflows, enabling users to both reduce costs and increase revenue opportunities by re-purposing content.”

The merged organisation has over 40 years of combined experience addressing the unique needs of broadcasters and media companies including television networks, post production facilities, news producers and sports enterprises around the globe.

“We wanted to entrust our rich history, technology and relationships to a company that shares our customer-driven focus and spirit of innovation,” said Walsh. “Masstech’s values, culture and vision are a great fit for SGL’s customers, employees and solutions, and we’re confident that they will be great stewards to continue what we started.”

Strategy and technology consultancy Media Asset Capital served as investment advisor for both Masstech and SGL. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Masstech and SGL customers are invited to contact their respective sales representatives for details.

Visit www.masstech.com

Ooyala Sues Brightcove Over Trade Secrets TELSTRA SUBSIDIARY OOYALA, the provider of video logistics and monetisation technology, has filed a lawsuit against Brightcove Inc. In the lawsuit, Ooyala details that the defendants engaged in deliberate and willful misappropriation of proprietary trade secrets including customer contact lists, confidential sales pitches and pricing, marketing plans and corporate strategies to undermine and exploit Ooyala’s business dealings and sales efforts for Brightcove’s benefit throughout Latin America.

Ooyala is seeking an injunction in federal court in Boston to stop Brightcove’s misappropriation of trade secrets, and is asking Brightcove and the named employees to return all proprietary materials and destroy all customer information. The six-count filing also includes allegations of deceptive business practices, tortious interference and breach of contract.

Ooyala says it gave Brightcove notice detailing the wrongdoing once the evidence was uncovered, and that the lawsuit is the result of Brightcove’s failure to take action to resolve the issue. Ooyala believes that Brightcove knowingly and intentionally continued to use Ooyala’s confidential information to solicit Ooyala’s current and prospective clients even after the notices were received.

Now in its tenth year of operation, Ooyala says it has made significant investments in Latin America. The company has an established research and development office in Guadalajara, as well as active sales, marketing and channel efforts in Argentina, Brazil, the Caribbean, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Peru. Ooyala argues the defendants’ sharing of proprietary information infringed upon contractual confidentiality agreements, causing immediate, and potentially irrevocable, harm to Ooyala’s business dealings throughout the region.

In a statement to Content+Technology, Brightcove said, “We are aware of Ooyala’s assertions concerning the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets.

When first alerted to these assertions by Ooyala, we reviewed them in good faith and reached out to Ooyala in an effort to address its concerns. Ooyala disengaged from that conversation and then filed this suit. Brightcove believes that this lawsuit is entirely without merit. We are working to resolve the matter, which is narrowly focused on a particular region and does not concern our products, services or technology.”

Ooyala is pursuing a trial in court. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Visit www.ooyala.com and www.brightcove.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

Irdeto Watermarking Passes ChinaDRM Lab’s Security

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IRDETO HAS ANNOUNCED that its Irdeto TraceMark forensic watermarking solution has passed ChinaDRM Lab’s security evaluation test. ChinaDRM Lab is the official testing organisation of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) of the People’s Republic of China. The certification recognises the robustness of Irdeto TraceMark and will enable operators in China to monetise over-the-top (OTT) offerings and build a 360° anti-piracy strategy around their ecosystem of content offerings.

Irdeto TraceMark forensic watermarking is offered together with Irdeto Rights for ChinaDRM, which is the first-ever Chinese government-approved digital rights management (DRM) solution that is compliant with the standards set by Hollywood studios for premium UHD and early release content. Irdeto Rights for ChinaDRM with Irdeto TraceMark forensic watermarking enables distributors like iQIYI to securely offer premium UHD and early release OTT entertainment content while also detecting and fighting against redistribution piracy. The

solution also provides operators with the ability to track down pirated content to the point of a security breach and give content owners and operators clear, actionable data to protect their high value content. By identifying where piracy leaks occur and what content is being pirated, operators can not only mitigate revenue loss, but also increase revenue potential by capitalising on latent demand.

“In order to keep pirates at bay, content owners and operators need to implement a comprehensive, 360° anti-piracy strategy that includes detection, monitoring, education and enforcement,” said Rory O’Connor, Vice President of Cybersecurity Services, Irdeto. “A key component of this 360° anti-piracy approach is forensic watermarking. With Irdeto TraceMark forensic watermarking being recognised

by ChinaDRM Lab for its robustness, operators in China are now able to securely distribute high-quality content and services with confidence.”

Visit www.irdeto.com

Explore the possibilities at SMPTE17 stand H40

Software-based IP solutions for compliance, monitoring and analysis mediaproxy.com

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

In-House vs Managed Service – What’s the Best DAM/MAM Option

By Rob Gallimore, General Manager, Preferred Media.

DEMAND FOR CONTENT IS EXPLODING, and so is the amount of content being produced. Keeping on top of it is a challenge. The average creative person looks for a media file 83 times a week and fails to find it 35% of the time.

In an ideal world you know what content you have. You can find it quickly. Then you can use or share it easily. That’s the vision digital media asset management promises. The vision is easy. The implementation isn’t. And one of the first questions many ask is; should we do this in-house or outsource?

Here are some points to consider when making that decision.

CONTROL For most of us, our gut reaction is that more control is a good thing – and that an in-house system gives us more control than a managed service. But it’s not quite that simple. How much control do you really have over an in-house system?

Whether it’s in-house or outsourced, you start off by looking for a DAM which meets your needs. One which can handle your file types, your content volume, any custom metadata you use. You might need to access from multiple locations.

You might want to annotate or share content. You may need to edit content within the system.

Most of those key needs are built into the software, not the vendor’s business model. So even if you buy the software and install in-house, they’re not something you can easily change.

On the other hand, control also means hands-on responsibility for implementation and management. So you now have to look after things like system configuration, extending or replacing hardware, software patches and upgrades, user administration, and so on. That’s a lot of time and expertise. Does ‘control’ still sound so much like a good thing?

TIME When we ask both current and prospective clients about digital asset management, the number one challenge they identify is time, or the lack of it.

Digital asset management is like filing. It’s important to everyone, but it’s not top priority. So when deadlines loom it gets pushed to the back of the queue. And let’s be honest, most of us don’t actually enjoy it that much. Updating metadata and uploading files doesn’t compare with creative work.

Large corporations may have a dedicated team member who specialises in digital asset management and supports the rest of the business, but it’s not common. Consequently the asset management doesn’t happen. No one notices immediately, but one day someone needs a piece of content, and nobody can find it.

Using a managed service doesn’t solve the time issue completely. You still have to get your content into the system. But if all you have to do is set files to upload, or send off hard drives at the end of a project, the task is much less daunting. A robust, repeatable process which suits your business workflow can ease a lot of issues.

In our experience setting up an in-house DAM doesn’t solve the time problem at all. Here’s the question we constantly ask; If you don’t have the time to manage your content now, why will you have the time to choose, install, configure, implement and manage DAM software?

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

RELIABILITY

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If you’ve got an in-house system you’re dependent on your IT team when something’s not working. You know how they perform now – is that going to work for your DAM? What out-of-hours support do you need? How many experts in DAM are on the team? What happens when those experts are on leave? What if there’s another IT emergency or a major project underway? Even the best of in-house teams have conflicting priorities.

Companies offering managed services have focused IT teams, deeper expertise, experience with common issues, and more to lose if the system goes down.

There’s no easy answer to this question. But if you’re doing a cost comparison be sure to compare the costs of both options.

For in-house software, look beyond initial licence fees. You need to consider: • Ongoing maintenance fees.

• Cost of hardware and other infrastructure the software requires.

• Cost of storage, including backup/redundant copies.

• Time expense of installation, upgrades, maintenance and troubleshooting.

This can include the IT team training users.

• Opportunity cost of staff time spent looking after the system.

For managed services, major costs are usually based on the volume of content you have in the system. They may be monthly or project-based. You may also be liable for: • Costs per user.

• Ingest and/or restore fees.

• Courier fees if shipping hard drives to the provider for ingest.

It’s also worth noting the cost of a managed service is more predictable than in-house systems. You don’t get sudden large charges for things like a new server or annual maintenance. If your company’s cashflow is tight this may be an advantage.

In conclusion, the need for good digital media asset management isn’t going away. Time spent searching for or recreating media files is time wasted. The sooner you get your DAM in order the better.

Think seriously about how you want to handle DAM. For maximum control and freedom, you can buy some software and go it alone.

But successful DAM/MAM takes more than just software. It involves ongoing investment in infrastructure, people, expertise, process and other resources.

Build this into your planning.

Or you can opt for a managed service. You’ll have fewer options configuring the system, but the solution is scalable. You don’t support the technology and you don’t make any capital investment.

It’s not a question of software functionality, although your choice has an impact on which specific software solutions are available to you. Unless you have specific needs you’ll be able to find both in-house and outsourced options to match your needs.

This is a strategic decision.

COST

Are you content creators? Or are you content creators and managers?

By no means least, what’s the relative cost of an in-house system versus a managed service?

Do you want to drive the car? Or do you want to service and maintain it as well?

Visit www.preferredmedia.com.au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

Efficient Storage Solutions from Rohde and Schwarz RELIABLE STORAGE SOLUTIONS are essential for broadcasters and post production houses. Digital content is the media industry’s key asset. It must be securely and safely stored. At the same time, certain media files must be quickly and reliably accessible. As budgets shrink and cost pressure grows, efficient storage becomes key in every respect.

To meet these requirements, IBM Spectrum Scale is now available for the R+S SpycerBox product family. This file system enables users to more efficiently utilise different storage tiers based on their needs. Combining high-performance R+S SpycerBox Cell online storage and powerful RandS SpycerBox Ultra TL nearline storage with IBM Spectrum Scale provides the basis for a centralised, tiered storage solution.

As storage requirements increase, storage solutions must be scalable in terms of capacity and bandwidth.

Customers in the media branch cannot tolerate any interruptions during production and broadcasting when they expand their storage space. The R+S SpycerBox series is capable of non-destructive scaling. Individual R+S SpycerBox Cell systems can be combined to achieve even more performance.

The file system solution assigns files to the most efficient storage location based on how frequently they are needed and other file characteristics.

The advantages of the R+S SpycerBox products are optimally utilised. For example, R+S SpycerBox Cell features exceptional performance for realtime processing of video material, while R+S SpycerBox Ultra TL is a more costeffective nearline storage medium.

“In the media branch, a deadline is a deadline – especially for broadcasters.

There are no extensions,” says Dirk Thometzek, Product Manager File Based Media Solutions. “That’s why a storage solution that guarantees efficient workflows is so important. The combination of Rohde and Schwarz hardware with the IBM file system makes it possible to scale the performance and capacity of centralised storage without interruption.”

IBM Spectrum Scale allows files to be automatically or manually stored in the optimal location. Since file paths remain constant regardless of which tier is used, workflows do not have to be modified.

RandS SpycerBox Cell and RandS SpycerBox Ultra TL with the IBM Spectrum Scale will be available in the third quarter of 2017. Quantum StorNext is still available as a file system option.

“It is important for our customers to be able to reliably access their media

Visit www.rohde-schwarz.com/au

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

files at any time,” said Stefan Weidner, Sales Director Media at Rohde and Schwarz. “This data is their company’s most important asset. With IBM Spectrum Scale on RandS SpycerBox Cell or RandS SpycerBox Ultra TL, broadcasters and post production companies can rest easy knowing that their key asset is securely and cost-effectively stored.”

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MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

Crystal Introduces Metadata Analysis as Cloud-Based Solution THIS YEAR’S NAB SAW Crystal launch a cloud version of its Video Metadata Analyzer (VMA). Crystal VMA is used to view, describe, and log metadata and corresponding video segments. It ensures metadata is precisely timed so any implied actions can take place at the exact intended video frame. Frameaccurate metadata is essential to capturing the revenue potential of over-thetop video, and VMA is able to identify any anomalies with metadata insertion and ensure accuracy of distributed video, enabling targeted content, dynamic ad insertion, and ensuring distribution rights are adhered to.

The cloud version of VMA allows broadcasters, cable channels and video program distributors to run the VMA software on virtual machines in their own data centres, or to securely access VMA running on cloud services such as Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services. It brings a new level of flexibility to the preparation of video content for over-the-top distribution. The latest update also introduced support for new encoding methods such as HLS, MPEG DASH and H.265.

Visit http://crystalcc.com

Wazee Digital Announces Upgrades to Digital Media Hub WAZEE DIGITAL HAS ANNOUNCED an upgrade to Wazee Digital Media

distribute.

Hub. With the upgrade come two major enhancements: a new gallery view to simplify content organisation and search, and integration with Aspera Directto-S3 to accelerate file downloads.

At the other end, people who access Digital Media Hub can find what they’re looking for more easily because they’re able to search for content in the more intuitive gallery view versus looking through a file directory. For instance, based on the earlier golf tournament example, people can click on an image tile and access all available audio, video, images, and transcripts associated with a given player on a given day. Then, when they’re ready to transfer the files, they get one-click, accelerated downloads thanks to the Aspera integration. Aspera Direct-to-S3 enables a direct download from Digital Media Hub without wasting time restoring or staging the asset. Instead, as soon as the user clicks ‘download’, the transfer begins.

The upgrades make Digital Media Hub more configurable because content owners now have more flexibility in the way they parse and organise the content and more specificity when granting access. Likewise, users now have an easier, faster way to find and download what they need.

Specifically, the new gallery view enables rights holders to organise content intuitively, with a configurable organisational hierarchy powered by content metadata. Rights holders can also integrate thumbnails to depict hierarchical relationships among the content and make categories and subcategories easy for people to identify. For example, content from a golf tournament is categorised by day and then subcategorised by players that appeared on that day. Player tiles help visually organise content for a specific player based on images pulled from a database. If a player appeared on Day Four, for instance, the system automatically pulls an image and uses it to display a tile for that player on that day.

Once content is organised, rights holders can create user accounts and grant permissions as they see fit, such as allowing certain people or groups to access only certain categories or subcategories of content. These capabilities help drive users to specific content the rights holder wants to highlight/

Unlike FTP sites, file-hosting services, and ‘sneaker-net’ workarounds such as portable hard drives, Digital Media Hub gives broadcasters administration and permissioning capabilities, workflows for transcoding, and metadata management. Meanwhile, stakeholders get immediate access to broadcastquality content, enhanced, searchable metadata, and preview capabilities all from one location. Also, because content is delivered to a central database (Core) and then presented in Digital Media Hub – a unique quality among access portals – rights holders can centralise multiple types of content that were previously hosted in multiple locations.

Visit www.wazeedigital.com

EditShare Connects with AWS Elemental EDITSHARE TOOK ITS INTEGRATION with Amazon one step further during

XSTREAM EFS – ON-PREMISE SCALE-OUT INFRASTRUCTURE

NAB 2017, showcasing a combined EditShare-AWS Elemental production

FLOW – ULTIMATE PRODUCTION CONTROL

The XStream EFS storage platform is a powerful, distributed, scale-out file system combined with a resilient architecture. It’s designed to support large-scale workgroups requiring high-bandwidth, high-volume media ingest, transcoding, online collaborative editing and multiplatform distribution of HD, 2K, 4K and beyond. Whether a one-node or multi-node system, every XStream EFS model supports media sharing and collaborative editing with non-linear editing applications such as Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro X, Grass Valley Edius and EditShare Lightworks, and can be expanded to increase capacity and bandwidth. For ease of use and administration, all XStream EFS systems present a single namespace, regardless of the system size. And unlike many SAN storage solutions, the performance of XStream EFS does not decrease as storage use increases. Its continual performance and reliability is backed by RAID 6 technology.

The Flow PAM solution adds an intelligence layer to EditShare XStream EFS

AWS ELEMENTAL – TRANSCODING IN THE CLOUD

shared storage solutions, offering extensive content indexing, search, and party solutions, including quality control and file transfer systems, connecting

AWS Elemental’s media transcoding solution manages all aspects of the media transcoding process. There’s no need to administer software, scale hardware, tune performance or manage transcoding of infrastructure.

production and post processes for greater oversight of media processes.

Visit www.editshare.com

workflow on EditShare and Amazon booths. Designed to manage any size and scale of production, the hybrid cloud workflow is comprised of EditShare Flow production asset management (PAM), EditShare XStream EFS 450 enterprise scale-out shared storage, and Amazon Elastic Transcoder. The EditShare PAM and scale-out infrastructure provides key workflow governance and automation for ingest, storage, collaborative editing with Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere, and other NLEs, and preparation for distribution. While AWS Elemental’s transcode technology leverages its scale-out cloud technology for managing

MEDIA IN THE CLOUD, STORAGE & MAM

mass conversions for delivery to multiple distribution platforms.

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Korean UHD Launch Puts MPEG-H on Sound Footing where those sound objects should originate and how they should move. Dolby Atmos is an example of an object-based audio scheme.

MPEG-H works for both live capture and for recorded content.

In planning for UHD rollout, the Korea Communications Commission, the state media regulator established a preparation committee for starting ultra-high definition broadcasting throughout the country. The committee consisted of 14 members from government agencies, TV makers, research institutes, and academia, including the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Samsung Electronics, and LG Electronics.

MAY 31ST, 2017, not only marked the launch date for regular Ultra-High Definition (UHD-TV) broadcasts in the Seoul metropolitan area (using U.S. standard ATSC 3.0 transmission), but also the beginning of the first large scale use of the MPEG-H audio standard.

MPEG-H Audio is part of the ATSC 3.0 standard, and of the DVB A/V codec specification. It is the audio codec selected for ATSC 3.0 broadcasting in Korea and will be the first next-generation audio system used on-the-air when broadcasts begin in South Korea.

The MPEG-H system allows for Scene-, Objects- and Channel-based audio formats to be transmitted simultaneously, eliminating the need for multiple mix formats (such as stereo, 5.1, 7.1 or 7.1.4 surround sound).

Scene-based audio is a loudspeaker agnostic format that is designed to adapt to the local loudspeaker geometry and acoustic landscape to offer optimal immersive sound playback in any location. MPEG-H Scene-based audio can deliver 3D sound to a variety of devices such as smartphones, tablets, STBs, speaker bars, smart TVs, AV receivers, and more.

Scene-based audio is said to work well for live recording because it captures a representation of the entire sound scene without requiring a human sound mixer. The scene-based audio format allows listeners to interact with and personalise their audio experience. Listeners can combine audio objects like dialogue and multi-lingual commentary with scene-based audio or manipulate the audio point of view.

Object-based audio, meanwhile, allows content creators to nominate 'objects' within a mix – individual sounds such as cars, gunshots, aircraft, etc. – and specify

In December 2016, Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) aired its first broadcast in the ATSC 3.0 UHD standard. The sporting event – a world cup short track speed skating race – was terrestrially broadcast from the transmitter station on Kwanak Mountain where Rohde & Schwarz installed a liquid-cooled R&S THU9 transmitter system. It was the first transmitter to go on air using the ATSC 3.0 standard. The countrywide network will be expanded by adding stations on Namsan, Yongmoon and Gwanggyo Mountains. SBS plans to use Rohde & Schwarz technology to set up a terrestrial TV network and broadcast the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in UHD. Using five 30MHz channels in the 700MHz Frequency Band, the rollout will start with the Seoul Metropolitan and expand to major cities during 2017 and, ultimately, nationwide by 2021. Channels in the HDTV band will be re-assigned for UHD broadcasting. HDTV channels will be replaced by UHD ones by 2027.

The terrestrial UHD services will add to existing satellite, cable and IPTV UHD channels which were launched between 2014-15.

A driving force behind the MPEG-H Audio Alliance, Germany’s Fraunhofer IIS organisation has been supporting the Korean networks, manufacturers, broadcasters and the creative community with the installation of a modern demo and mixing facility in Seoul’s Digital Media City.

Officially opened on May 15th, the demo facility will also be used as an educational centre to train sound engineers from broadcasters and the engineering schools in the methods to create next-generation audio experiences with immersive and interactive audio.

The number of tools and devices with MPEG-H support is also on the increase.

The first MPEG-H capable TV sets are now on the market from Korean manufacturers. At January’s CES 2017 in Las Vegas, LG Electronics introduced its first ATSC 3.0-enabled 4K Ultra HD TVs. In advance of the 2018 Winter Olympics – new 2017 models of LG 4K Ultra HD TVs and large-screen LG smart TVs sold in Korea will have both ATSC 3.0 and ATSC 1.0 tuners Visit www.iis.fraunhofer.de

New Soundcraft Notepad Mixers

Soundcraft Notepad mixers include professional microphone preamps, XLR combination jack mic/line inputs for easy connection with professional audio gear, and 1/4" balanced inputs for connecting keyboards, playback devices and more. USB I/O connectivity enables easy recording and playback with digital audio workstations or video audio workstations. In addition, users of the Notepad-8FX and Notepad-12FX can also enhance their audio using renowned HARMAN Digital Signal Processing (DSP), including Lexicon reverbs, chorus and delay with tap tempo control.

A traditional channel strip layout provides fast and efficient access to desired channels and sends.

Up to three EQ’s per channel are perfect for simple audio shaping on incoming audio signals. An Aux/FX send makes it easy to feed audio signals to external effects send or built in Lexicon digital processing. A master fader with LED metering provides XLR stereo output level control. A rotary headphone level provides simple control for master mix or aux output levels.

Visit www.jands.com.au

AUDIO

HARMAN PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS has introduced three new Soundcraft Notepad mixers. The Notepad-5, -8FX and -12FX are desktop analogue mixing surfaces that include HARMAN signal processing, and USB I/O connectivity. Streamlined to meet today’s audio workflow challenges, the new Soundcraft Notepad surfaces are suitable for podcasters, singersongwriters and audio professionals who require small format mixing solutions.

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AUDIO

Riedel Does the Bolero RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS recently introduce Bolero, a new wireless intercom solution. Bolero is an expandable, full-roaming, DECT-based intercom system in the license-free 1.9GHz frequency range. Fully integrated into Riedel’s Artist digital matrix intercom platform, Bolero offers features and connectivity that can be applied three ways: as a wireless beltpack, as a wireless keypanel, and as a walkie-talkie radio.

Bolero runs over an AES67 IP network. Decentralised antennas connect to AES67 switches and then to Artist frames equipped with AES67 client cards, providing an integrated point-to-point intercom ecosystem with roaming capabilities. To the system the beltpacks appear as Riedel panels, but are in fact wireless.

The Bolero voice codec provides higher speech intelligibility and more efficient use of RF spectrum, supporting twice the number of beltpacks per antenna for the same audio bandwidth as other DECT-based systems. The codec has exceptional latency characteristics while being efficient with processing power, providing excellent beltpack battery life, and saving DSP processing power for other functions.

Bolero features Riedel-exclusive ADR (Advanced DECT Receiver) technology, a diversity receiver technology designed to reduce sensitivity to multipath RF reflections, making the system useable in challenging RF environments.

The beltpacks support Bluetooth 4.1, allowing either a Bluetooth headset or a smartphone to be connected. When a smartphone is connected, the beltpack

can act like a car’s ‘hands free’ setup so the user can receive calls on their phone and talk and listen via their beltpack headset. Users can also make calls and then connect that person into the intercom matrix, eliminating the need for a telephone hybrid.

The beltpack itself features six buttons for each of the six intercom channels, plus a separate ‘Reply’ button that facilitates a reply to the last channel that called. The beltpack can also be used without a headset like a walkie-talkie radio utilising an integrated mic and speaker.

“Bolero is a category-changer for wireless intercom systems,” said Thomas Riedel, CEO at Riedel. “A lot of time and effort has gone into every phase of Bolero’s development, a true ground-up development touching all aspects of design.”

Visit www.riedel.net

Stage Tec’s Mixing Console Concept: AVATUS STAGE TEC RECENTLY REVEALED AVATUS. The new mixing console concept incorporates an IP-based large mixing console with 21inch multi-touch displays. Control elements and interfaces are connected through standard ethernet. The console control surface and other elements communicate via IP, enabling remote production.

The operating philosophy is less technical, and Stage Tec has equipped the AVATUS mixing console concept with workflow oriented controls. For example, the touch displays provide context related functions. Another feature is the colour coding of functional units for more intuitive operation.

The device view function also ensures efficient working. Instead of needing to switch each crosspoint separately, this is now achieved via device lists.

AVATUS console concept configurations are context-dependent and can be set on all displays.

The control surface will initially consist of three panel types. There are no central panels in the AVATUS mixing console concept. This enables multiple users to operate a console from different locations. The approach is supported by multi-touch displays which provide access to all parameters and central functions. The console interface can be split since the displays can be relocated as required.

The AVATUS console concept provides more than 800 input channels and 128 summing buses. Channel formats range from mono to 7.1. Features such as the de-esser, implemented as an audio module, loudness metering, multiband compressor, and the Stage Tec automixer are all integrated. Control surface sizes range between 12 and 96 channel strips.

Visit www.stagetec.com

Calrec Goes Full Throttle with V8 CALREC AUDIO ANNOUNCED its latest V8 software features, together with new Brio enhancements, at the recently held 2017 NAB Show.

single- or three-band options on all channels, groups, and mains. The expander/

V8 introduces a number of developments across the range including improved RP1 support, switchable 96kHz or 48kHz sample rates, and further integration of Calrec’s AoIP interface. In addition, the new V8 software integrates Brio on the Hydra2 network, allowing the console’s on-board resources to be available to all other networked resources.

side-chain source that allows the gain reduction to be keyed from audio on any

Brio also receives new features. Users gain stereo- and 5.1-path spill leg access and independence controls. A second compressor/limiter is also available with

gate in the dynamics section now includes a ducker, complete with a selectable other mono path on the surface.

Brio can now operate at multiple sample rates too, with options of 44.1, 48, 88.2, or 96 kHz – all without DSP sacrifice. Brio’s processing capacity remains the same at any sample rate.

Visit http://calrec.com

DPA Microphones Introduces 4-Way d:screet Mic Clip

AUDIO

POPULAR AMONG broadcast journalists, churches, television and film productions, DPA Microphones’ d:screet microphone series is suitable for any situation where you need a completely hidden microphone. DPA d:screet Lavallière Microphones can be paired with the new SCM0013-B four-way clip, which was on display at the recently held NAB show.

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The new four-way clip offers fast and secure mounting – upwards, downwards, left and right – and has multiple cable management mounting options. The clip offers three points for cable attachment, providing the user with the flexibility they need to move around. The four-way clip is compatible with the d:screet 4060 series, Slim series, as well as 4071 omnidirectional

microphones.

“This new clip helps broadcasters expand their mobility and complements the flexibility of the omnidirectional lavallière microphones,” said Christopher Spahr, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, DPA Microphones. “We like to create accessories that are innovative and have diverse applications. Our mics are used by a variety of industry professionals and it is important that we provide our customers with new and unique accessories to further simplify their microphone needs.”

Visit www.dpamicrophones.com

AUDIO

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Exceptional Distance

FreeSpeak II with Integrated Fiber Connections The new FreeSpeak II-Base II Wireless Intercom Base Station and new FSII-SPL Splitter offer built-in fiber connectivity for achieving unprecedented wireless coverage. Two optional SFP fiber connectors provide either native single-mode or multi-mode fiber link between base stations and the new Splitter. The system can cover a large production area with transceivers located up to 20,000 metres from the base station over fiber optic connection.

Contact Jands for a demo today: www.jands.com.au

See it at SMPTE Visit us at stand G22

www.jands.com.au

AUDIO

Distributed by

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AUDIO

3D Immersive Sound Tech for Singapore’s Audio Post SINGAPORE’S MEDIACORP has upping the ante on audio post production services with the launch of its Movie-Mixing Studio (MMS), the first certified Auro3D and Auromax mixing studio in Southeast Asia.

Designed by world renowned audio engineer and studio designer, David Hawkins, and fitted with a Barco Cinema projector, 43 high-end Quested speakers and Fairlight EVO digital workstation, the 70 square metre Movie-Mixing Studio can produce any digital audio format, including surround sound in 5.1, 7.1, and 3D immersive sound in Auro 11.1 and AuroMax 26.1. The facility is the most advanced of the seven sound mixing studios owned by Audio Post, a unit in Mediacorp specialising in music and sound mixing.

Doreen Neo, Mediacorp Head Studios said, “Audio mixing is a highly valued component in the television and movie production process. Since 1979, Audio Post has been producing music and sound effects for local television, moving on to sound-mixing services for the local and regional film industries in the 1980s.

“With the first certified Auro3D and Auromax Movie-Mixing Studio in Southeast Asia, we can now provide the highest possible audio standard, sound design, music composing services all under one roof. In short, a one-stop shop for audio post production services for our business partners.”

Jack Neo of JTeam, one of Singapore’s premiere production houses and a steadfast collaborator with Audio Post, said, “Our collaboration with Audio Post goes back to 2002 in our first movie project, I Not Stupid. Over the years, we have worked on many more movie projects together and I continue to be impressed by its professionalism and creativity. I want to congratulate Audio Post for embarking on a new journey with Auro3D technology, to bring music and sound mixing standards in Singapore to a new high.”

Completed in February this year, Mediacorp’s MMS offers a one-stop solution for movie audio production. With close to 40 years of creative sound experience and the new MMS, Mediacorp’s audio service solution will further enhance movie makers’ storytelling in the local and regional movie industry offering the highest audio standard, sound design, music composing and audio post production services.

Campus and was attended by some 150 guests from the local and regional movie industry. Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Health was the guest-of-honour at the event.

The official opening of the MMS was held on the 17th of May at the Mediacorp

Visit www.mediacorp.sg and http://jteam.com.sg

Welcome to Broadcast

AUDIO

LAWO ruby

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See PAT at SMPTE 2017 Professional Audio & Television Pty Ltd

Hall 3

AUSTRALIA www.proaudiotv.com.au P: 02 9476 1272 E: sales@proaudiotv.com.au

Stand F14

NEW ZEALAND www.proaudiotv.co.nz P: +64 0800 002 417 E: sales@proaudiotv.co.nz

RADIO The original broadcast media

www.content-technology.com/radio

Radio NZ Gets Prime Ministerial Across Platforms, Networks ONLY SIX PEOPLE ALIVE TODAY know what it’s like to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

In a landmark new series for radio and podcast, RNZ Morning Report presenter, Guyon Espiner, talked at length with five of New Zealand’s six former Prime Ministers about political events and decisions that have shaped New Zealand over the past thirty years.

RNZ released new episodes of The 9th Floor each week over five weeks from Friday the 7th of April, with content posted first on the RNZ website. Each interview was a four-camera shoot, so it is first and foremost an online video series. Online versions run between 50 and 75 minutes and are available on radionz.co.nz, iTunes, and all usual podcast platforms. Radio episodes, almost an hour long, were broadcast two days later after the 7am news on Sunday Morning with Wallace Chapman.

The interviews were released in chronological order, starting with Sir Geoffrey Palmer (1989-1990) posted online.

Sir Geoffrey Palmer was followed by Mike Moore (1990), Jim Bolger (19901997), Dame Jenny Shipley (1997-1999), and Helen Clark (1999-2008).

In a show of ground-breaking cooperation, New Zealand commercial TV broadcaster MediaWorks’ Three has announced it will be broadcasting Radio New Zealand’s (RNZ) The 9th Floor from October 2017.

MediaWorks Head of Broadcast News, Richard Sutherland said, “We are pleased to provide a platform to share this series of historical journalism with our audience. In an evolving political environment, we know this series will be a popular one and realise the importance of New Zealander’s learning about the history of our country.”

RNZ’s Tim Watkin, Executive Producer Podcasts and Series, said, “Our whole plan is to make smart journalism available to as many people as possible so it’s great Three is going broadcast the series free-to-air and ad-free on Sunday

mornings from October.

“This is another first for The 9th Floor. Already the series is the first to be shared free and in its entirety across all major New Zealand media. It’s the first New Zealand podcast to reach number 1 on iTunes. Now it’s the first RNZ series to be broadcast on mainstream TV. So we’re stoked. It shows there’s an audience for long-form current affairs, rather than just another snackable cat video.

“These interviews talk about the issues and controversies, drama and decisions that shaped modern New Zealand and so hopefully will help viewers understand how we’ve become the country that we are.”

Visit www.radionz.co.nz and www.mediaworks.co.nz

RadioApp Now on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto THE AUSTRALIAN RADIO INDUSTRY’S RadioApp is now available via Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto, allowing consumers to stream more than 250 Australian radio stations in the car.

playing on other stations. An alarm and sleep-timer function allows users to fall

The release of the latest version of the free app allows users to easily view and play their favourite radio stations through their car’s infotainment system. Users will also be able to view a list of nearby radio stations based on their location.

industry in November.

Joan Warner, Chief Executive Officer of industry body, Commercial Radio Australia, said listeners simply install RadioApp on their Apple or Android smartphones and connect their phone to a compatible car infotainment system.

smooth transition from the phone to the car dashboard.”

“Through RadioApp, listeners can easily discover local stations while travelling, access their favourites list, and control the app safely through their connected car dashboard,” she said.

“Consumers today expect freedom and connectivity and we want to make sure they can listen to their favourite local radio stations however they want and wherever they are.”

RadioApp allows listeners to tune in to commercial, ABC, SBS and DAB+ digital radio stations across the country, create a favourites list and swipe to see what’s

sleep and wake up to their preferred station.

The app has been downloaded 140,000 times since it was launched by the “Our aim is to make RadioApp the ultimate go-to for streaming live local radio,” Ms Warner said. “Now users will be able to take RadioApp on the road, with a Ms Warner said while the majority of in-car listening will continue to be through broadcast radio, which doesn’t require an internet connection, there has been strong user interest in being able to access RadioApp on CarPlay and Android Auto.

Research shows radio remains the most popular form of entertainment on the road, accounting for 80 percent of in-car listening, followed by owned music (12 percent) and music streaming services (3 percent).

RadioApp can be downloaded free through the App Store and Google Play.

Visit www.radioapp.com.au

AVN-GMCS IEEE1588 PTP Grandmaster Clock with GPS Receiver

Sonifex Pty Ltd • +61 2 9987 0499 • sales@sonifex.com.au • www.sonifex.com.au

RADIO

The AVN-GMCS is a PTPv2 grandmaster clock for use with AoIP applications. AES67/RAVENNA/AES-R16 compatible.

See it at SMPTE booth G04

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RADIO

Lawo Upgrades R3LAY Virtual Radio Mixer Software BROADCASTERS USING LAWO’S R3LAY virtual radio mixer software now have access to a new software release which is available for immediate download.

R3LAY is a suite of software that virtualises broadcast studio tools. Using R3LAY, broadcast professionals can move traditional hardware-based studio tools, such as mixing consoles, multi-channel sound cards, and patch bays, into the virtual domain using today’s COTS computing platforms.

All R3LAY software is AES67 / RAVENNA AoIP compliant, and multi-touch optimised for easy, intuitive use on touchscreen PCs and laptops. This collection of virtual broadcast tools includes: • R3LAY VRX8 8-fader and VRX4 4-fader Virtual Radio Mixer software.

with routines that help maintain Unicast connections and report broken links.

There are also program enhancements which decrease the CPU load of host PCs, as well as the inclusion of Microsoft-signed network and WDM drivers for broadcasters using R3LAY on Windows 10 computers.

R3LAY VRX mixing software is aimed toward in-studio use, where its AES67 compliance allows operators to mix local or networked audio streams and send out a ready-for-air program stream. Installed on a laptop and paired with a Lawo OnAir 4 audio interface, R3LAY VRX makes a perfect grab-and-go mobile broadcast kit, complete with VST-based EQ, dynamics and other processing tools.

Lawo has also welcomed Modulation Index as a R3LAY Virtual Radio Partner.

• R3LAY VSC Virtual Sound Card software.

The first Modulation Index product to be sold through the R3LAY.com web store is nCode, a version of the StreamS Live Encoder package featuring HLS/MPEG-DASH streaming with adaptive multiple bit rates, and available only to R3LAY clients.

New features found in R3LAY v3.0.0.102 include support for Unicast streaming,

Visit R3LAY.com and www.lawo.com

• R3LAY VPB Virtual Patch Bay software.

Orban Streamlines Optimod Line ORBAN HAS REVAMPED its FM processing product line to incorporate

The FM processor line now includes the following models:

customers’ most-requested features into a select number of products.

• 5500i – now with a full-featured RDS / RBDS generator with PS scrolling.

David Day, Orban’s President, said the streamlined product line was the result of extensive communication with dealers and customers. “We looked at what our customers wanted for features in FM processors, and how to best address those requirements,” said Day. “It became evident that there were too many Optimods in our FM product line, and many models did not fully address the needs of our customers. In the end, we eliminated a few models while at the same time improving the feature set of the most popular models. This makes the choice of processor easier for customers and better serves our dealers and end users.”

• 5700i – now with full-featured RDS / RBDS generator with PS scrolling, as well as FM and HD outputs.

• 8600Si – now with standard with FM and HD outputs.

• 8600 FM/HD – now with both FM and HD outputs.

• 8700i – to be introduced at NAB 2017 with a processed low-latency headphone output, Dante AoIP (AES 67) and Orban’s newly patented Xponential Loudness algorithm.

Visit www.orban.com

Frontier Silicon Launches DAB+ Mini Module FRONTIER SILICON, the provider of digital radio solutions, has announced the launch of Siena, its smallest-ever module for DAB+ radios.

The Siena module measures 21 x 21 mm and is a low power, cost-optimised solution designed for both entry-level price point DAB+ radios, and consumer audio devices which offer DAB radio as one of several functions.

customer audio systems, the module can be incorporated as a slave digital radio system driven by a host MCU. The Siena module went into mass production at the end of February 2017 and was awarded the European Digital Radio Tick in March.

In addition to enabling reduced system cost, Siena introduces a host of state-ofthe-art technologies to optimise power consumption, RF and audio performance.

Anthony Sethill, CEO, Frontier Silicon, said, “As international demand for DAB radio accelerates and the first countries start to switch-off FM signals, it is essential that we provide a solution to serve the fast-growing entry level price point segment of the market. The Siena module - with its smaller footprint, reduced power consumption and lower cost - will address this segment and help drive market growth.”

For entry price point devices, Siena operates as the master processor. For

Visit www.frontier-silicon.com

Siena is based on Frontier Silicon's new Kino 4-Lite silicon, a single integrated chip, which combines a multi-band RF tuner, digital baseband, and application processor.

Using surface mount technology (SMT), the module can be fixed directly to a DAB radio system board without the need to include a connector.

Professional FM/DAB+ Monitor Receiver The PLUS1 family of FM/DAB+ broadcast receivers responds to demands from the professional market and fills the gap between a low-cost consumer and a high-end measurement unit.

With the PLUS1 FM/DAB+ Monitor Receiver from PROFline, you can measure and monitor your DAB+ and FM broadcasts.

Bringing together a unique, High Power, Low Noise RF front-end designed for both FM and DAB+, the PLUS1 provides professional grade monitoring, alarming and local audio streaming.

RADIO

The PLUS1 includes an intuitive front panel that makes the unit extremely easy to operate. All functions are fully remotely operated by a browser and SNMP

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pa c i f i c

PLUS1 Dual Tuners (DAB+ and FM) Simulcast Operation 2 Antenna Inputs with Matrix Switch Stereo Monitor Speakers Digital, Analog and Streaming Audio Out High Res Front Display MPX Output for Rebroadcast RDS Data Decoding Network Port for Browser Control and SNMP Alarms and Log facilities for RF, Audio, BER, FIC

www.pacificlivemedia.com | +61 2 8458 0701 | sales@pacificlivemedia.com

RADIO

Australia Expands Digital Radio THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY has announced an expansion of digital radio services across Australia with current trial services in Canberra, A.C.T., and Darwin, Northern Territory, to be made permanent. The ACMA has also completed regulatory arrangements for digital radio to be made available in Hobart, Tasmania.

capital city roll-out of digital radio,” said acting ACMA Chairman, Richard Bean.

“The plans make frequencies available to broadcasters wishing to provide ongoing digital radio services in Canberra, Darwin and Hobart. The ACMA will now commence discussions with the broadcasters about starting the transmitter licence allocation process.

The Australian Federal Government has also asked the ACMA to facilitate the rollout of digital radio in regional areas where licensees make the commercial decision that they wish to offer the service. As a result, the ACMA is working with industry to identify which regional markets wish to commence services and prioritise planning accordingly.

“The completion of the capital city roll-out is just the beginning. The commercial radio industry has indicated there are many regional radio broadcasters keen to offer digital radio services, so for Australians living in regional areas, stay tuned,” Richard Bean added.

Details of the timing of the start of permanent digital radio services will be determined once the broadcasters have finalised the arrangements to deploy their new digital radio infrastructure.

Digital radio services, using DAB+ technology in VHF Band III spectrum, have been running on a permanent basis in the metropolitan areas of Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney since July 2009. DAB+ digital radio uses ‘multiplex’ transmitters. Unlike analogue broadcasting, where each broadcaster has its own transmitter, in DAB+ digital, individual broadcasters aggregate or multiplex their content onto one or more multiplex transmitters, using digital compression technology.

“Finalising digital radio channel plans is an important step in completing the

Visit www.acma.gov.au

The ACMA says it has now finalised digital radio channel plans for the future development of DAB+ digital radio in all of Australia’s capital cities. This follows the release of a package of planning papers last December.

Oz Govt Increases Community Radio Funding THE AUSTRALIAN MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS, Mitch Fifield, has announced additional targeted funding for digital radio ($1.9m in 2017/18 and $2m in 2018/19) and a further $2.2m focused on support for community stations affected by the reorganisation of the 803-960MHz radio frequency band.

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia CEO, Jon Bisset said that this additional funding support will secure the sector’s involvement in digital broadcasting across this period.

“For 40 years,” he said. “Australian governments have been committed to community radio standing alongside commercial and national radio services on available free-to-air broadcast platforms. This increased funding supports community digital radio services over the next two years. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of those involved in helping us keep the community in your radio.”

Bisset confirmed that the CBAA will continue working with the Government to ensure the long-term sustainability of community radio.

“The additional funding for digital radio comes at a critical period for the sector and will assist to maintain metropolitan digital radio services and the planned extension of digital radio to Canberra, Darwin and Hobart,” he said. “The sector will need this increased level of funding on an ongoing basis to support regional expansion of digital radio and we appreciate the Government’s commitment to supporting these next steps. Community services are an essential part of the mix of broadcast services available to Australian communities.”

The community radio sector, some 450+ community radio services across the country, recorded a record national listenership in 2017, with 5.3 million Australians tuning in each week.

Visit www.cbaa.org.au

Logitek Consoles for the 'Touch Generation' LOGITEK ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS and its R&D partner, Logitek Australia, have announced the Helix line of digital consoles, marking Logitek’s sixth generation of router-based digital consoles.

Featuring a multi-touch interface and available in both physical and virtual editions, Helix provides users a touch-friendly experience across consoles, screens, tablets and phones. Physical consoles feature large physical on/off buttons combined with touch-sensitive motorised faders, allowing “eyes-free” operation; other functions such as source selection, bus assignments and macros appear on a 7” IPS touchscreen which can be fully customised.

“Helix meets the challenges of modern broadcasting, which demands efficient use of physical hardware while retaining the flexibility needed for multiple users and operational situations,” said Tag Borland, Logitek President. “Glass cockpits are becoming ubiquitous throughout all industries, and users everywhere are now accustomed to touch interfaces on many devices. We are pleased to bring this flexibility and modern mode of operation to the broadcast studio.”

“You can take Helix with you as you walk around the station, do a remote, or connect to the studio from across the country,” Borland said. As remote users change fader positions, the motorised faders on the physical console will track the positions.

Efficiency is further expanded with fader layers, providing flexible access to more virtual faders and saving on the cost of physical faders.

Four products have been introduced in the Helix line: • Helix Radio is available in sizes from 6 to 24 faders ; it includes a Monitor module and an HDMI output for a touchscreen meter/control bridge. Modules can be mounted in a single or split desktop frame.

• Helix Television is available in sizes from 6 to 36 faders, with a Monitor module for master mixing. It incorporates two master mix buses (one 5.1, one stereo), four stereo aux buses and four stereo submasters; frame delay is available at every fader.

• Helix Surface is a large format virtual console for the 28” Microsoft Surface Studio. The Helix interface fully mirrors the experience of physical Helix consoles, allowing it to be used in a variety of workflows. Helix Surface can be deployed for second control rooms, remote locations or even as a replacement for a physical console. It presents full multi-touch capabilities on a 4500 x 3000 DPI adjustable screen.

• The Helix interface also powers Logitek’s new vMix Touch, enabling it to present custom layouts across multiple devices and screen sizes. vMix Touch does not require a Windows PC or application, making it a true cross-platform multi-touch interface.

Visit www.logitekaudio.com

RADIO

The Helix interface is built on the latest multi-touch technology that drives mobile phones, tablets and modern app interfaces. Helix operation moves seamlessly between console touchscreens and other devices, giving multiple users access to functions they need without an array of expensive hardware panels.

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RADIO

International Push for FM-Enabled Smartphones THE NORTH AMERICAN BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION (NABA) has been leading an effort to gain international support for the activation of FM radio receivers in smartphones.

NABA submitted an “Opinion” on activating radio receivers in smartphones that was adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in March of 2017. NABA says enabling the FM chip present in most smartphones would allow users convenient access to FM radio in times of emergency and natural disasters.

“ITU’s support is a result of focused, coordinated and steadfast effort

by NABA’s Radio Committee and the FM Chip Working Group comprised of members across Canada, Mexico and the United States,” says Michael McEwen, Director-General, NABA. “As broadcast industry leaders, we thank the ITU for the global support of FM enabled smartphones.”

The Official Opinion from the ITU states: a) that Report ITU-R BT.2299 provides a compilation of supporting evidence that terrestrial broadcasting plays a critically important role in disseminating information to the public in times of emergencies; b) that the overall robustness of broadcast services is enhanced by the geographical diversity of multiple radio and television services within a given region, whereby total loss of service during service disruptions rarely occurs; c) that radio receivers are generally highly reliable, regardless of almost any disorder or disruption taking place in the affected disaster area;

d) that the majority of smart phones contain hardware that consists of a multitude of connectivity capabilities including, among other things, Bluetooth and similar technologies. Regardless of the chipset manufacturer selected by the smart phone maker, FM receivers have a nearly 100 percent inclusion in this set of connectivity chips; e) that Report ITU-R BT.2387 indicates that some countries are implementing digital sound broadcasting and while the demand for analogue FM radio remains strong, some countries have extended the FM band, The ITU is of the opinion that “… citizens of the world would benefit if manufacturers of mobile telephones, tablets, and similar devices as well as associated service providers would include and activate a broadcast radio tuner functionality in their products along with the appropriate applications to facilitate radio broadcasting reception.”

The opinion was initially submitted to the Radiocommunication sector of the ITU in Geneva in October of 2016, and was discussed, edited, and approved at the March 2017 meetings of the ITU’s Study Group 6 (specializing in Broadcasting Service). NABA’s submission was supported by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), International Association of Broadcasting (IAB), the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), and the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), as well as a number of administrations.

Visit www.nabanet.com and www.itu.int/pub/R-OP-R.103-2017

Mediacorp Takes Tieline’s Merlin Codecs for STLs AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPER TIELINE reports that Mediacorp, Singapore, has installed 56 of its Merlin IP audio codecs in the new Mediacorp Campus facilities in Mediapolis and at its Bukit Batok Transmitter site. The codecs carry 12 radio channels which are broadcast in four languages to Singapore’s multilingual audience.

“The size and scope of the Mediacorp installation at their new facility at Mediapolis is impressive,” said Charlie Gawley, Tieline’s VP Sales APAC/EMEA. “Critically important with live content is the reliability of Tieline’s SmartStream PLUS in delivering over 100,000 hours of unsurpassed audio quality to its

Orban NeuStar Air2 Codec Pre-Conditioner ORBAN, THE DEVELOPER OF audio processing technology, has announced the availability of the Orban NeuStar Air2 codec preconditioner. Designed to significantly improve the quality of lossy, compressed audio, the NeuStar Air2 codec pre-conditioner provides perceived audio quality of twice the effective bit-rate.

The NeuStar Air2 was specifically designed to improve the sonic performance of low bit-rate internet streams, HD Radio multicasts, DAB/ DAB+ and DRM channels.

RADIO

“Many internet and terrestrial radio stations depend on lossy, compressed source material for a large portion of their programming,” said David Day, Orban’s President. “The problem is that while listeners expect a broad range of programming choices, they won’t tolerate low quality sound performance for very long. Our design goal for the NeuStar product was increase time-spent-listening and keep listeners from becoming irritated and tuning to another station.”

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audience each year.”

“Mediacorp has selected Merlin IP Audio codecs for their studio-to-transmitter links as they are equipped with multiple layers of redundancy and are already used by major broadcasting networks across the globe,” added Gawley.

Tieline’s Singapore distributor, Telesto Broadcast Solutions, delivered and supported the installation and commissioning of the 56 Merlin codecs used for main and redundant studio transmitter links.

Visit www.tieline.com.au and www.telestobroadcast.com

Omnia VOLT Audio Processor THE TELOS ALLIANCE HAS ANNOUNCED a new broadcast audio processor, the Omnia VOLT, featuring high-performance Omnia sound in just one rack unit.

Omnia VOLT features include: The Omnia VOLT audio processor has a next-gen clipper designed by Frank Foti and dynamics design from Omnia Chief Engineer, Cornelius Gould, along with a slew of features that create impeccable audio from only one rack unit.

These include six separate AGC sections (one wide-band, five multiband); five time-aligned limiter sections; deep bass, warmth, and stereo enhancers.

Omnia VOLT's new QuickTweak system distills years of processing knowledge and proven approaches from Omnia processing pros into a simple set of controls that can turn anyone into an expert. Users can nail their signature sound in minutes whether using Omnia's advanced presets or their own settings, right from the VOLT’s front panel or a PC.

Orban's proprietary codec pre-processing engine has been specially tuned for operation at 24 kbps, 32 kbps, 48 kbps, 64 kbps and 128 kbps rates with any codec including HE-AAC v2. It significantly reduces artifacts from lossy codecs and other low bit-rate sources. Day said the ultimate goal is to deliver quality content while preserving a station’s unique sound signature, “ensuring a win-win for both the broadcaster and listener.”

Using DSP|Core firmware, broadcasters can alter the functionality of VOLT to fit their changing needs and applications, whether it's FM, AM, HD/DRM, or Studio processing. VOLT can even be used as a standalone stereo generator.

DSP|Cores aren't extra cost add-ons. Users simply download the functionality they need for free, install the DSP|Core firmware package from a connected computer, and reboot.

Visit www.orban.com

Visit TelosAlliance.com.

CONTENT DELIVERY Terrestrial, Mobile, Broadband

www.content-technology.com/delivery

iflix: Over-The-Top Everywhere Else

By Phil Sandberg WITH INCREASES IN BANDWIDTH and decreases in subscription costs, Over-The-Top Television is riding a growing wave. And while pioneering service Netflix continues its relentless march, other more agile, more localised operators are carving out new and, potentially, more lucrative markets.

Malaysia-headquartered iflix is leading the pack with availability in 10 markets across Southeast Asia, with recent launches in Pakistan, Vietnam and Myanmar. It has also announced a Joint Venture with Zain, iflix Arabia, to make its service available in the MENA region.

The company is headed by Co-Founder and CEO, Mark Britt. Prior to founding iflix, Britt, an Australian, served as CEO of Nine Entertainment Co’s digital arm Mi9, where he was responsible for the company’s SVOD investments and portfolio of start-up ventures.

A new round of funding for iflix was recently announced to the tune of over US$90 million to support its further international expansion. The financing includes new investors – Liberty Global plc, major distributor of TV data services operator in the Middle East and Africa, and a privately held investment management firm that invests in consumer businesses across Africa. Additional capital also came from existing shareholders Sky PLC, Catcha Group and Los Angeles-based Evolution Media.

The company also recently announced Sean Carey as Chief Content Officer.

Carey brings more than two decades of experience in digital media, content acquisition and distribution, and strategic planning to the role. He most recently served as Vice President, Global Television at Netflix, where he was responsible for all licensed television series, kids and family content, and co-productions for the Netflix service in all territories. Prior to Netflix, Carey held executive roles in strategic content, digital distribution and corporate development at Sony Corporation and its filmed entertainment subsidiary, Sony Pictures Entertainment. iflix is delivered via platforms such as Chromecast box and set-top boxes working with a number of telco partners around the region. Download and

iflix Chief Information Officer, Tim Parsons.

outside of office hours. So, we improve the asset utilisation in a telco term, infrastructure utilisation. On the basis of that, we’ve had a lot of success with getting lots and lots of telco partnerships and launching with them.

Sometimes, in complex organisations with lots of infrastructure – we’ll turn up in a country and just launch and then, after we’ve proven the range of content and the value proposition, they come and talk to us, and then we get to do a deal with them.

“Our technical teams will bust through the layers of account management to work directly with the technical teams at telcos, so we can do these integrations. So, we integrate with every partner that we have around the world and we work really hard, even in Sri Lanka, even in markets like Brunei, which is a very small market, we had a team going there and making sure we do good integration with them so that the journey is really simple.”

These technical efforts are backed up by the iflix content team in engaging

play offline options are also available in some markets.

with local audiences.

According to iflix CIO Tim Parsons, “Iflix’s vision was always, and will remain, is

“We do lots of social media stuff,” says Parsons, “because people, we’ve

to redefine TV for a billion people. We want to lead that online entertainment

found, in emerging markets are very active in social media. We use lots of

revolution in emerging markets. The key point is the value-play, a price for all,

programmatic ads. We’re just starting to make sure that we don’t just use

we want to be priced for the ‘other 80%’, but with the same features that we

programmatic ads to drive acquisition, we also use programmatic to drive

get for our Netflix-type experience. In fact, even better.”

engagement of our current subscribers.

Part of the iflix strategy for achieving this goal is not only working with local

“So, somebody might be a fan or we might have seen that they like watching

telco partners, but providing them with alternative, more bandwidth and

this particular season and they’ve binge-watched the whole thing. A new

cost-efficient technology more suited to local infrastructure and device eco-

one’s going to come and we want to alert them to that, so not only the

systems.

interruptive annoying in-app notification, but we might also start showing

“Our average streaming bandwidth is also quite low,” says Parsons “Netflix’s

them a few ads and we’re doing lots of experiments around that.

peak streams are like 8 megabits per second, our peak stream’s 1.5 megabits

“One of the key discovering mechanisms we’re experimenting right now, is

per second and average is around 700-800 kilobits per second. We produce

every single market we have about forty key influencers who’ve all curated

our own CDAs - Content Distribution Appliances. So, we have a set of open

a playlist. And so, these people are active on social media, they’re active in

source hardware that we configure and we can put inside a telco to take the

events and then, they’re also people you can engage with and follow inside

place of Akamai’s. So, we cache, instead of people having to have Akamai

Iflix. So, that’s something else that we’re trying that’s given us more reach

boxes.

and more influence in all the networks that we’re using today. That cuts right

“So, what we do with our CDAs is we say, ‘Well, here’s your own CDA and we’ll

across famous TV personalities, right through to sporting heroes and so forth.

pre-positon Iflix content in that box’ and, in fact, we’ll be pre-positioning our

So, we’ve got solid, repeat business.”

content at a time when the rest of your networks are actually quite quiet,

Visit www.iflix.com

CONTENT DELIVERY

entertainment, sports and other programming, Zain, a leading mobile and

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CONTENT DELIVERY

Drone-Based Antenna Measurement for Malaysian DVB-T2 Network COLIBREX, THE PROVIDER OF drone-based radio frequency measurement announced at the recent Broadcast Asia 2017, that it has recently a countrywide antenna measurement in Malaysia. This is the first project of its kind performed in Asia.

The measurements were performed for the new Malaysian DVB-T2 broadcast operator MYTV Broadcasting Sdn Bhd (MYTV), which is in the midst of implementing and rolling out its nationwide Digital TV network. As part of its network deployment, MYTV has to install new DVB-T2 transmitter systems all over the country. Most of these new antennas have to be mounted on existing towers. Hence this makes it more crucial to verify the transmission characteristics from these new antennas.

To realise the project, Colibrex and its long-standing Malaysian partner, Wamata Solutions Sdn Bhd, started work several months in advance to obtain the necessary approvals which took longer than anticipated, as well to ensure that the measurements will not be delayed. This includes organising the logistics, to coordinate the schedule of the measurements with various authorities and to get the appropriate approvals, e.g. from the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA).

The effort was worth it as the results obtained from the first phase of our drone based measurement were to the satisfaction of MYTV. Thanks to the measurement performed on the newly installed antennas, MYTV could detect several critical issues, mainly due to installation errors, wrong configuration or factory fault. MYTV could then engage with the system supplier directly for

immediate corrective measures.

Leveraging the precision flight of the drone, combined with a specialised measurement payload, both the horizontal and vertical radiation patterns of the antennas can be precisely determined. Errors of tilt or phasing can be immediately detected. As an additional service, Colibrex’s mother company LS telcom provided MYTV with an analysis of the coverage resulting from the errors detected on the antennas if they are not resolved.

“We were very excited about the idea of being the first broadcaster in Asia to use the Colibrex’s drone based measurement, and the results have exceeded our expectations. To know how the antennas perform in their real environment and to have the possibility to immediately engage corrective measures with the system supplier or with the owner of the masts are of great benefit. This saved MYTV massive costs and time. The process to measure the next sites are already on-going. We believe it will have similarly positive impact as with Phase 1,” said a MYTV representative.

Colibrex will continue the project with a second phase of measurements at different transmitter sites located both in Peninsular Malaysia as well in East Malaysia. Similar projects have been already realised by Colibrex in Europe, Africa, North and South America, with over eight hundred successful measurements to its credit.

Visit www.colibrex.com

Ooyala and Adobe partner for Digital TV and OTT OOYALA RECENTLY ANNOUNCED a new partnership with Adobe

not requiring further custom engineering and development costs. With highly

that combines Ooyala’s Integrated Video Platform (IVP) solutions with the

reliable delivery, measurement and insights for greater engagement, Ooyala

Adobe Experience Cloud. The two ocompanies say premium media and

customers can see scalable results. Broadcasters and publishers can more

entertainment companies will be able to build best-of-breed digital TV and

effectively grow and monetise their global audiences, major brands can

OTT solutions for greater engagement, measurement and recognise greater

increase brand loyalty, and sports teams and leagues can drive higher fan

returns with video.

engagement.

With Adobe’s TV-delivery technologies, premium content providers benefit

“Video is unquestionably the crux of the digital transformation for the global

from the same reliable scale and device reach achieved in some of the largest OTT events to-date, including Superbowl LI, international Olympic coverage and the FIFA 2014 World Cup. The new partnership allows customers to also use Ooyala’s complete set of IVP solutions, building collective insights across video production, distribution and advertising processes, which are trusted by

media and entertainment market,” said Adobe’s Media and Entertainment Head of Business Development, Kevin Towes. “As Ooyala leverages Adobe technology, we can help media companies achieve their transformation faster, with greater video monetisation, engagement and measurement.”

companies such as Sky, Media Prima, and Star India.

“Modern media companies with large audiences and real skin in the game

Ten of the ten largest media companies rely on technologies within Adobe

need better insights and technologies to recognise greater return on their

Experience Cloud to deliver, measure and monetise video content across any

video business,” said Ooyala Co-founder and SVP of Products and Solutions,

screen. Even more brands and media companies can benefit from Ooyala and

Belsasar Lepe. “Pairing our IVP solutions with Adobe gives even more insight

Adobe technologies, giving them a way to deliver great video experiences and

into analytics and measurement, building common data sets across every

drive more value from their content.

function of video all with a single goal – to grow your business.”

Through this partnership, customers can reduce their total cost-of-ownership,

Visit www.ooyala.com

Lawo, Cisco Collaborate on IP Routing for TV

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LAWO AND CISCO ARE now collaborating in the development and marketing of IP-based video and audio systems for broadcast television.

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The cooperation involves the Cisco IP Fabric for Media infrastructure, its answer to complex IP workflows in television broadcasting, based on Software Defined Networking (SDN) principles. As the industry moves rapidly toward Broadcast 3.0 (broadcast infrastructure built around COTS technology), broadcasters are excited about the ability to produce more content on format-agnostic IP platforms, finally delivering on the promise of ‘future-proof’ production technology.

The first strategic customer to take advantage of this work is in place at a large U.S. television network, which will deploy an all-IP Lawo routing infrastructure

based on a Cisco IP technology backbone. The planned rollout, scheduled for later this year, will make use of Cisco Nexus 9000 switches connecting Lawo V__matrix, with SOUL and VSM control and monitoring systems.

“Working with Lawo brings Cisco an innovative partner that can immediately provide new and improved workflows to broadcasters, employing Cisco network solutions,” says Bryan Bedford, Global Business Development for Sports, Media and Consumer Segments, Cisco. “Integrating Cisco data centre switching systems with Lawo IP-based hardware and software products opens up new opportunities for television broadcasters. Together, we can provide a solution that’s truly ready for any new video technology the future brings.”

Visit www.lawo.com and www.cisco.com

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ATEME Gives Amber ‘Green Light’ for Encoding, Transcoding and the Cloud ATEME, THE DEVELOPER of HEVC, H264, MPEG2 video compression solutions

well. It gives a relatively small team a magnification by being housed within

for broadcast, cable, DTH, IPTV and OTT, has entered into an agreement with

Amber.

Australian distributor Amber Technology which will see Amber help establish

“In terms of the commercial structure, there's essentially two divisions within the

a local ATEME office and represent the company’s products and services in the

product range that ATEME offer. The software solution is the fully virtualised, tier-one enterprise-grade deployable encoding/transcoding multiplexing delivery

ATEME’s products include Titan Live software-based compression for distribution

system that can handle broadcast multiplexing and delivery, as well as all of your

applications, Titan Origin server, Titan Mux stream processing software, Titan

OTT and VOD demands.

File transcoding software, the Kyrion CM HEVC/H.264/MPEG2 contribution encoder, the Kyrion AM H.264/MPEG2 broadcast encoder, Kyrion DR receiver/ decoder, and ATEME Management System for unified network management.

The company also offers a SAAS platform, Titan Cloud, for channel-in-the-cloud – either public or on-premise.

According to Ross Caston, General Manager, Media Systems, at Amber Technology, “In order to fulfil the requirements for ATEME to have a dedicated local presence, Amber have entered into a contract with ATEME whereby we employ people on behalf of ATEME. “We're quite familiar with this because it's something we've done with EVS before. So, we actually form a representative office and this provides an interesting degree of separation where the ATEME operatives can work

“Then there is the compression side which is the hardware appliances which are the Kyrion range. The Kyrion encoder and decoder platform will be sold by Amber technology as part of their normal broadcast hardware deployment business, and the software solution will be supplied and supported by the ATEME team that's going to be working within Australia.”

In the wider APAC region, ATEME can also draw upon resources in its Singapore office.

According Yossi Aloni, Chief Marketing Officer with ATEME, “The Australian market is about to catch up with what we have seen in the US and Europe, so get conditioned to more IP, conditioned to more efficient recording, conditioned to software and conditioned to converged edits.

as ATEME operatives 100%. So, the confidentiality of the customers is

“If you look at, for instance, the market in the States, operators are working

guaranteed, the guarantee of 100% focus for the customers is guaranteed,

in a different way over there. Whether it's a software solution, in all ATEME

the confidentiality of those operatives with ATEME and their R&D teams is

environment, so they are slightly ahead in terms of technology and architecture.

guaranteed, and yet they can draw on the full Amber resource to leverage the

Based on everything we've seen so far, it's fair to say that probably the market

Amber presence in Australia.

over here is moving in that direction, meaning there is an opportunity.”

“We've been doing that with EVS for a long time and we find that it works very

Visit www.ateme.com and www.ambertech.com.au

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ANZ market.

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Talking the Talk – The Entertainment Brain of Conversational Search The TV industry should take a long, hard listen to voice-based search and recommendation.

By Sue Couto, Senior Vice President, APAC Sales, TiVo. FOR MANY YEARS, effective voice-based search technologies have eluded businesses that have tried to bring next-generation input methods to customers.

Command-based speech systems have been perceived as ineffective and hard for viewers to use. However, the widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets, and their minimised keyboards, has led to a renewed interest in this genre of technology. For example, Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa have progressed beyond basic menu navigation functions. In fact, any device with a microphone has potential for speech-based commands, and can become an intelligent discovery system that uses a sophisticated entertainment brain to understand customer desires.

it allows the connection of all sorts of information to records, without the

This technology is important and under-explored by the TV industry, which often appears to have been left behind in terms of intuitive discovery functionality. For content providers, voice-based search and recommendation should be a core part of their customer service provision to provide customers with accessibility to their favourite shows and genres.

At its core, a quality conversational search engine should include the following aspects:

SPEAKING THE VIEWER’S LANGUAGE

reliance on "tables."

In the context of TV, most consumers have viewing patterns that can be mapped to provide highly personalised results to searches. This is more accurate than user-based profile creation or ‘thumbs up/down’ ratings that are both errorprone and do not automatically take into account users’ changing tastes and preferences over time. The ability to make personalisation precise and extremely relevant – what the industry is now terming hyper-personalisation – is correlated to the knowledge graph’s semantic capabilities.

a) Knowledge graph - this graph maps search results to intent, and prioritises those results based on the weight of their connection and should be able to: • Look at named entities in media, entertainment and geography and extract, deduplicate and disambiguate the entities across sources

With the chaos of content available today, consumers have preferred selections and considerations across cast, plot and genre. Conversational interfaces simulate natural communication qualities and remove the need to conform to hierarchical menu structures. Most importantly, the technology must understand when a user is drilling into a particular genre in detail, or when they have lost interest and have completely switched topics.

• Recognise similarities and build relationships between entities

To be successful, natural language search needs to encompass a variety of different points, each crucial to success:

b) Personal graph - crucial to true conversational systems, the personal graph tunes the conversational system to individuals to enable natural conversations around the user’s preferences and context. The personal graph is:

• Disambiguation: Natural language technology must understand and interpret the user’s intent. For example, the phonetic sound “Kroos” can be interpreted to apply to Tom Cruise or Penelope Cruz, and the system should be able to understand what the user is looking for in relation to the original query.

• Statefulness: During a dialogue with a user, the system should be able to maintain context, and understand that people change their minds quickly. For example, the user could say that they are “in a mood for thrillers,” then jump to “Bond” and then to “old ones”. Ideally, the system should understand these requests, and serve up a series of older James Bond films for the viewer to select from.

• Personalisation: Conversational systems need to understand their users on an individual basis. For example, the system should learn that a user based in New Zealand who asks “when is the game tonight” wants to know about their local team, and if they say, “when is the Blacks game” they mean the rugby team All Blacks.

TAKING UNDERSTANDING TO THE NEXT LEVEL Behind successful natural language technology lies excellent search capabilities.

New technologies such as graph, have introduced high-quality and relevant search results to consumers everywhere, setting a benchmark across industries.

Unlike a traditional database, a graph is much more scalable and flexible because

• Identify a multidimensional view of popularity and how audience interest in the entities shift over time • Generate a large vocabulary such as keywords and sub-genres to help search systems identify relevant content

• Based on statistical machine learning • Able to learn individual behavioural patterns and interests • Learns how time and device affect recommendations At the front end of the system, the conversational query engine is required to bind all aspects together. This brings together key algorithms to map and learn linguistic features and provide content discovery features to customers.

INTUITIVE SEARCH AND RECOMMENDATION Natural language technology backed with knowledge graphs can provide a revolution in TV search and recommendation. Based on excellent metadata that covers actors and actresses, content synopsis and even famous quotations from films, TV providers can create a second to none entertainment brain that offers customers speedy and accurate access to their favourite shows, and similar content that they might enjoy. Voice-based discovery around knowledge graphs is no gimmick – it is set to change the way that people interact with their TV sets – as long as service providers make it personalised, intuitive and natural.

Visit https://business.tivo.com/products-solutions/personalization/ conversation-services.html

H.264 Streaming Upgrade from AJA AJA VIDEO SYSTEMS has announced new v1.1 firmware for its HELO H.264 streaming, encoding and recording device. The update adds new features to HELO that further simplify and expand live production workflows.

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• A scheduler that triggers pre-planned start and stop of recording and streaming media. The schedule may be programmed locally through HELO’s web UI, by importing ICS files or by linking to external calendar providers such as Google Calendar.

• Redundant recording of one file to two media destinations simultaneously.

• A recording file segment size of 360 minutes for TS files, for long event recordings.

• Support for up to five RTSP streams.

• REST API documentation to describe how to automate basic HELO functions. ”HELO has been met with great enthusiasm, and we’ve been working closely with customers to rapidly develop and deploy updates that further improve its functionality while addressing common live event production challenges,” said AJA President, Nick Rashby. “Following our most recent update, which introduced support for Facebook Live, HELO v1.1. firmware includes several new features that make streaming, recording and encoding with HELO even simpler.”

HELO v1.1 firmware will be available soon as a free download.

Visit www.aja.com

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Massive Redefines OTT Ecosystem with Video Merchandising Platform AT THIS YEAR’S NAB SHOW, Massive Interactive announced the launch of a major update to Massive AXIS, its video merchandising platform, offering operators the ability to package, present and monetise their video assets in realtime across any device.

Massive’s advanced merchandising and real-time audience segmentation technology allows operators to make shifts in how they optimise their video applications in order to increase engagement levels and reduce customer churn. New functionality empowers operators to use their video applications as a way to increase revenue by instantly responding to the latest trends or developments, connecting viewers with the right content at the right time and across any device to achieve their business goals.

A key new feature of the latest release is Segmentation Tags, which offer content schedulers and product managers the ability to personalise subscriber experiences, providing unmatched versatility. Service providers now have the power to respond directly to A/B testing and audience behaviour, setting new industry benchmarks in targeting content to separate audience groups through unique user experiences.

Other additions include: • Enhanced Lists – An innovative feature that makes it simple to generate new collections from a video catalogue based on cast or crew, release date, keywords, expiry and more. With live inline visual previews and the versatility to add premium imagery and metadata, video service provider owners are now supercharging their catalogues and curating like never before.

• Live Channel/EPG Presentation Management – The enhanced live/linear management features enable video service operators to manage the presentation of Live Channels and EPG metadata. With the power to add linear schedules to any video asset, and schedule a broad range of Live and EPG components, video service providers can now curate truly content centric experiences that seamlessly blend live and on demand. Additionally, the capacity to add subscription video on demand (SVOD) and transactional video on demand (TVOD) offers on linear channels, means that video service providers can manage access to distinct audience groups and segments.

Visit www.massive.co

Hybrid IP, 4K/UHD and HDR Solutions PHABRIX LAUNCHED A RANGE of new hybrid IP, 4K/UHD and HDR solutions to streamline compliance testing and content monitoring during NAB 2017.

The new Qx 12G performs signal generation, analysis and monitoring across SMPTE 2022-6 IP and HD, 3G, 6G and 12G-SDI formats. Advanced IP tools enable broadcast engineers to quickly understand network traffic integrity and assess issues such as network congestion. Multiple diagnostic instruments include an Inter Packet Arrival Time Analyser, which provides network health reporting with a histogram presenting the distribution of packet arrival times.

A SMPTE 2022-6 encapsulator coupled with the Inter Packet Transmission Profiling tool provides the ability to simulate a wide range of network congestion conditions. Additional network analysis tools present detailed transmission and reception traffic information. Software upgrades for additional IP standards will be available during 2017, including TR03, AES67 and PTP (ST 2059-2), as defined in the draft SMPTE 2110 specification.

For High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Wide Colour Gamut applications, Qx 12G provides new generator patterns plus a CIE 1931 X Y chart with Rec.709 and Rec.2020 overlays for measuring chromaticity. There’s also a programmable HDR Heat-map to highlight luminance zones of a signal, as well as HDR vectorscope and waveform tools. All these HDR instruments support Dolby PQ standard, and future software releases will support the HLG and SLOG3 standards.

Advanced physical layer testing capabilities are also offered by Qx 12G, including ultra-fast 12G-SDI eye analysis with RTE (Real-time Eye) technology, which instantly highlights SMPTE compliance issues, including eye under/overshoot.

Additional tools include: Jitter waveform, Jitter Insertion, Jitter FFT analysis, and pathological test patterns.

Existing Qx users will be offered an upgrade path to the new Qx 12G feature set.

PHABRIX’s expanded Qx range now also includes the new Qx IP, a highly affordable variant for hybrid IP, 3G-SDI and HDR generation, analysis and monitoring. Qx IP provides all the HDR and IP features of the Qx 12G for 3G-SDI and IP applications.

Sx handheld hybrid IP, 3G-SDI and analogue test and measurement.

For handheld hybrid IP, 3G-SDI and analogue applications, PHABRIX has launched a new IP option for the Sx TAG. This ultra-portable instrument provides signal generation, analysis and monitoring from a colour-coded interface. It features mains and battery power, and provides essential tools for infrastructure compliance testing and content monitoring, including a multi-format waveform and vectorscope, video monitoring using a 16:9 screen, and 16 channel audio monitoring.

SMPTE 2022-6 IP support is provided using 10GE IP SFP+ modules. The IP status is presented within the Sx TAG’s monitoring toolsets, and new Tx/Rx instrument windows are provided for network configuration and monitoring.

Other advanced features include Dolby E, Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus bitstream generation and analysis, as well as video status logging, and remote operation over ethernet.

Visit http://phabrix.com and www.avgroup.com.au

NHK and Village Island Simplify 8K Video Transport using TICO NHK AND VILLAGE-ISLAND have developed a new innovative system, called VICO-8, that makes possible to transport 8K 4:2:2 60p 10bits on a single 12G-SDI cable using intoPIX TICO compression technology.

8K with 4K-ready appliances, wherever it is about switching, distributing,

VICO-8 takes 8K video as 4x 12G-SDI input as compress by a factor of 4 to 1, in visually lossless quality, generating a single TICO 8K stream output mapped on a single 12G-SDI interface with a delay of few video lines, so less than 1ms.

matrix switcher where VICO decreased the number of required input by four,

Such high number of SDI cables implies many drawbacks such as big space constraints, high costs and high complexity of wiring. Furthermore, a UHD signal spread on multiple SDI cables brings concrete problems for signal distribution, switching, transmission, and other basic operations.

The gain to bring 8K to a single 12G-SDI cable is huge. It enables to achieve

cost of infrastructure, the gain of VICO-8 is even exponential when considering while decreasing the number of required output by four, dividing the number of required node by 16.

The VICO-8 can be configured as an encoder or a decoder. As an 8K decoder, it can also be configured to output a down-converted 4K output, thanks to the internal down-scaler available in the TICO compression. It is saving the cost of heavy 8K professional displays, when 4K display are available to monitor the 8K signal.

Visit www.intopix.com and www.nhk.or.jp and http://village-island.com

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8K 60p 4:2:2 (10bits) usually requires 16x 3G-SDI or 4x 12G-SDI for raw quality transport.

transmitting the signal on optical fibre or other support. Dividing dramatically the

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CLASSIFIEDS + EVENTS SMPTE Australia Conference & Exhibition to Feature Cutting Edge Technologies THE SOCIETY OF MOTION PICTURE AND TELEVISION ENGINEERS (SMPTE), the organisation whose standards work has supported a century of advances in entertainment technology, has announced that the SMPTE Australia Section's Conference & Exhibition (SMPTE17) will return to Darling Harbour, bringing a worldclass conference program to a premiere exhibition space at the new International Convention Centre (ICC) in Sydney. During the event, which runs from Tuesday 18 July through Friday 21 July, attendees will enjoy unparalleled opportunities for professional development, relationship-building and technical education.

With a theme of 'Embracing Connective Media', SMPTE17 will feature a top-class line-up of exhibitors and conference sessions. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn from some of the industry's brightest local and international minds.

“We've got a wide array of sessions and presenters who will provide educational, thought-provoking and even controversial perspectives on the trends and technologies driving our industry forward. We consider it the first day of the next 10 years of television,” said Paul Broderick, chair of the SMPTE Australia Section.

“A truly international conference, SMPTE17 will draw thought leaders from around the globe to provide insight into the future of media creation, delivery, display and consumption. I am particularly delighted to welcome Shadow Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland MP as our keynote speaker.”

The huge variety of sessions slated for SMPTE17 will cover topics such as implementation of cloud and internet protocol (IP) technologies, working with

POSITION VACANT BROADCAST PROJECT ENGINEER FOX SPORTS AUSTRALIA At FOX SPORTS, we take pride in being the gamechangers of sports entertainment. By constantly challenging the conventions of sports journalism, we take fans closer to their game, their heroes and their club, with the best experts delivering the best insights. As Australia's sports leader, we are renowned for innovation and for being industry leaders in sports broadcasting. We operate with one purpose firmly in mind, to take fans closer to the sports they love.

FOX SPORTS has a fun, fulfilling and supportive culture. Our values guide our everyday behaviour as we work together as one team to deliver fans the best sports entertainment experience.

As part of our diverse and passionate team, you will be given the freedom to channel your love of sport, your creativity, your passion for change to help us deliver an unrivalled and memorable experience to our fans.

To help us continue to revolutionise sports entertainment, we are looking for an experienced, motivated and forward thinking Broadcast Projects Engineer to join our Technology team.

Working with the Head Of Technology and

ultra-high-definition (UHD) and high-dynamic-range (HDR) content, and vision and sound considerations for virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) production.

Several fascinating case studies will focus on delivering drama for extreme screen sizes, new approaches to remote sports production, and the use of IP technology to bring a "live cinema" project to life. Bookings are now open for the conference.

Attendees can select from a bundle of six sessions or the complete program — with discounts for members of SMPTE and its affiliates.

Broadcast and IT engineers, solutions architects, specifiers, project managers, technicians, producers, students, trainees, equipment suppliers and manufacturers — plus CTOs and CEOs in related industries — will find that the conference offers valuable sessions on the latest trends, technologies and operational practises for the broadcast, content production and media industries. The conference will balance technical matters with creative, operational and business topics.

The exhibition will feature more than 100 of the leading suppliers delivering solutions to meet the needs of thousands of qualified buyers looking for the latest products and technology. Acting as Australia's most comprehensive forum for connecting customers and suppliers face-to-face, the exhibition will allow visitors to source all the products they need in one convenient location. Registration for the exhibition is free and can be completed online.

Further information on the conference is available at www.smpte.org.au.

Information about the exhibition is available at www.smpte.com.au.

Broadcast Systems Architect to deliver transformative broadcast technology projects, the role will see you involved with projects at all stages from scoping, design, costing and planning with particular involvement and responsibility through build, install, configure, test, commission and hand over stages.

You will be required to coordinate and supervise both internal and external resources including drafting and installation specialists, vendors and manufacturers.

• Media Asset management and archive • Multichannel automation and playout, linear, OTT and VOD. • Core facility video and audio routing and switching infrastructure.

• Studio automation What can we offer you?

• A fun, fulfilling and supportive culture working with passionate and enthusiastic people.

Throughout project delivery you will liaise with project management and support teams and provide status, feedback and results to internal stakeholders and management.

• The chance to be part of a progressive, agile and dedicated team of technologists and media professionals

To be successful it is essential you have:

• Competitive salary package

• Exceptional organisational and communications skills

You should only apply if you love working in a team to deliver great results, you're happy to share your knowledge and driven to learn more.

• A deep and thorough knowledge of broadcast systems, equipment and technology • 5+ recent years of experience in a hands-on broadcast engineering project delivery role.

It will be highly advantageous if you can demonstrate experience in building systems and delivering projects involving:• Routing, switching and distribution of video and audio over IP

Ready to play? Then click on the 'Apply for this job' link below to submit your covering letter and resume.

Only people with the right to work in Australia may apply for this position. As such, candidate's visa or residency status will be checked before employment is offered.

Apply at apply@foxsports.com.au

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Advertiser Index

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AJA…………………………………………..………………….……3 Amber Technology………………….………………….9 ARRI ………………….……………………………………....19 Blackmagic Design ………………….………………….5 Canon Australia ………………….………………….15 EMC………………………….……………………………………39 Fujinon Fijifilm……………………….60,61,62,63

IHSE GmbH Asia Pacific……………………………8 Jands………………………………………………………..49 Lawo………………………………………………………..29 Magna Systems & Engineering…………13 MediaProxy…………………………………………….43 On Air Solutions……………………………….11,57 Ooyala…………………………………………………….IFC

Pacific Live Media……………………….35, 52

SilverTrak

Professional Audio & Television…………………………Cover ,6 , 30, 50

SMPTE17…………………………………………..IBC

Quantum…………………………………………………OBC

Digital……………………………..45

Snell Advanced Media.……….………….. 17

Riedel………………………………………………………27

Sonifex………………………………………………12,51

Ross Video………………………………………………..25

Sony Australia……………………………………………21

Seagate……………………………………………………33

Techtel……………………………………………….….7

18–21 JULY 2017 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE SYDNEY, DARLING HARBOUR

SMPTE 17, Australia’s leading exhibition and conference for the broadcast and technology industry will showcase what all of us will be utilising in the coming years. The future is focused on integration and workflows that create connected environments where content and information are easily shared.

Discover the solutions that will help your business soar into the future.

To stay ahead of the game register today at www.smpte.com.au Exhibitor enquiries: Dawn Sullivan

E: dawn.sullivan@expertiseevents.com.au P: 02 9452 7548

events